


Downpour

by peterparkerpanic



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alador Blight and Odalia Blight Bashing, Amity Blight Needs a Hug, Bad Parents Alador Blight and Odalia Blight, Bisexual Luz Noceda, Domestic Fluff, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay Disaster Amity Blight, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Amity Blight, Luz Noceda has ADHD, Luz Noceda has a sexuality crisis, Odalia Blight Being an Asshole, Panic Attacks, Slow Burn, ever heard of couples therapy?????, i'm so happy those tags exist and i didn't have to make them myself, not YET it isn't, that isn't a tag???, tw: panic attack, why can't they just communicate with each other oh my god
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26301859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterparkerpanic/pseuds/peterparkerpanic
Summary: The rain was burning everything around her, but Luz’s eyes were caught on Amity – cheeks far more flushed than Luz had ever seen them, panting softly and barely holding up her own umbrella-like forcefield to prevent herself from getting burnt. The acid rain bit at her feet, which were turned in on each other, and added to the feeling of her hunched-over shoulders – that Amity looked small, and flustered, and vulnerable.“I’m sorry,” Amity began, a tremor on her lips that Luz wanted to, but couldn’t, discount to the cold. “I didn’t know where else to go. Can I stay?”The Amity-runs-away-from-home AU, because something is up with her parents, and we all know it.
Relationships: Amity Blight & Eda Clawthorne, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, King & Luz Noceda
Comments: 594
Kudos: 3017
Collections: All things Disney, New, The Owl House





	1. Chapter 1

There was something about the rain, Luz thought. Not _her_ rain – she’d always loved the rain in the human world, cold and comforting. But the rain in the witches’ world, with its ability to burn everything it touched, made her feel… on edge.

Something bad always happened in the rain.

Example one: the first time she’d ever experienced the rain, she’d run head-first into the death trap – and then had somehow learnt about Eda’s curse, been running from the Snaggleback, _and_ almost lost King (the last one wasn’t actually that major, but in the moment, it had been terrifying.) Example two: the night before Willow lost her memories, and her and Amity had to do that whole jump-into-her-head-and-try-not-to-die thing, it had rained. Heavily. And example number three: every time she had to go back to the human world, it rained (which was _obviously_ a bad sign.)

Conclusion? The rain brought bad happenings.

She’d been in-between the human world and the real world for two years now; spending Monday to Friday with Eda at Hexside, and visiting her Mom over the weekends. Mom had even come to visit Eda, once – and although they’d got along a little too well, she’d stated that she felt _much_ safer in the human world, where there wasn’t stuff like killer spells, and killer demons, and killer… rain. Understandable.

“I don’t like the rain,” she’d told Eda, once last year, as Eda was trying to teach Luz how to put up a forcefield.

“Why not?” Eda asked casually, successfully putting a bubble around the house. Luz tried – but her own magic only formed a tiny orange field around her hand. It was _definitely_ the rain’s fault.

“I don’t know,” Luz said, ducking into the Owl House. “It just… gives me a bad feeling.”

On that day, it was raining. In her head, Luz had been calling it acid-rain (which was weird, because to witches, this was _normal_ rain – they’d never had the nice, human stuff.) She was lying on her bed, on her back, both enjoying the familiar pitter-patter, and trying to ignore it. King had been tucked into her side, curled up into a prawn-like ball.

Oh, yeah. Reason number 4 why she hated rain: you can’t _do_ anything when it’s raining.

Luz let out a loud sigh to the high ceiling of her bedroom, half expecting the breath to visualize itself as dragon’s air, curling up until it dissipated above her. For one, she was glad that Hooty didn’t really come and bother her in the rain, lest he risk exiting the forcefield and burning himself; but another part of her _desperately_ wished for company. There was only so much one person could do to distract themselves – and Luz was all glyph’ed out. And, even if she wanted to practice her magic, the fifty-or-so magical balls of light above her were the only spell safe enough to do indoors.

“I’m _bored,”_ she said, to herself, and King, and the open air. As if in response, King nestled himself further into her side, chasing the warmth. She _could_ always go and hassle Eda, she supposed – but Eda was busy enough, what with the depleted magic after putting up so large a forcefield, and the cooking lessons she’d recently taken up. Camilia had sent Luz back to Eda one Monday morning with a series of human cooking books, for Spanish food – somehow believing that the problems with Eda’s cooking merely lay in the fact that Eda was white, rather than the fact that she burnt everything she touched. But Eda had returned the gift with witch-cookbooks of her own, and both were valiantly trying to make out-of-the-box recipes for Luz.

They hadn’t outright said it, but Luz expected they were in some sort of competition. Luz loved her mama’s cooking, but Eda was trying her best (and, y’know, _teaching Luz magic)_ so she kept up the façade that they were both winning.

So… what to do?

She couldn’t text her friends – she’d never gotten a Scroll-phone that everybody seemed to use here, because it required a certain magic she just didn’t have. And she didn’t have any human-friends, so her human phone was just for her mom.

 _[I’m bored],_ she texted her mom. And then, _[:(.]_

 **[Read a book,** **cariña** **!]** came her mom’s, albeit predictable, response. **[I miss you.]**

 _[Miss you too.]_ Luz sent, before throwing her phone half-heartedly across the room and groaning dramatically. She didn’t _want_ to read a book; she wanted the rain to end, so she could go see her friends, and go on an adventure, or something.

Yeah, Luz thought to herself, absentmindedly stroking under King’s shell. She wanted an adventure. Full of magic, and quests, and danger, and her friends, and-

And a knock on the door.

That wasn’t usually how magic quests began.

Luz sat up, and the balls of light dissipated at her sudden loss of concentration. King yowled at the loss of heat, but curled further in on himself. Had she imagined the knock?

Another knock. But it couldn’t be – and in all this rain, too. Luz _hated_ the acid-rain, because it always brought bad things. Who would be stupid enough to walk all the way out to the Owl House, of all places, in such horrible weather?

Luz stood, brushing imaginary lint from her outfit. Well, she supposed it was a little unconventional, as far as adventure-starts went – but she _had_ been hoping.

“Eda!” Luz yelled as she barreled down the stairs, almost running into the kitchen. There weren’t even any windows – they couldn’t check who the visitor was beforehand. “Was that a knock on the door?”

Eda looked slightly frazzled – hand-deep in some sort of pot of ingredients, looking confused at either Luz’s question, or merely her presence. “I don’t know, was it?” She asked. “Maybe it was just thunder.”

There was a third knock, and Luz raised her eyebrows at Eda, mouth curling upwards. “Should I answer?” Luz asked. “Do you think it’ll be a murderer?”

“We don’t need to worry about murderers,” Eda chuckled. “And we know Snaggleback’s aren’t that scary. I’d open it, but…” she lifted her hands, covered in a green-gray goop.

Luz nodded, steeling herself. She was sixteen, and mature, and a well-versed witch, by this point. She could open a front door. Maybe this _was_ the adventure – there’d be a mysterious witch at the door, offering her fame and glory for a dangerous quest. Or it could be a pixie, who’d heard about the most powerful witch in all the land, and her apprentice, and had come to beg for their help to save a village.

She opened the door. Thunder and lightning split the sky. And there stood… Amity.

The rain was burning everything around her, but Luz’s eyes were caught on Amity – cheeks far more flushed than Luz had ever seen them, panting softly and barely holding up her own umbrella-like forcefield to prevent herself from getting burnt. The acid rain bit at her feet, which were turned in on each other, and added to the feeling of her hunched-over shoulders – that Amity looked small, and flustered, and vulnerable.

“I’m sorry,” Amity began, a tremor on her lips that Luz wanted to, but couldn't, discount to the cold. “I didn’t know where else to go. Can I stay?”

At a closer glance, Amity was shivering in her school uniform – there was no bag on her back, which was weird, because Amity _always_ came prepared. “Of course,” Luz said, voice scratchy from the shock piled upon how she hadn’t spoken for a couple hours. “Are you cold? Want a blanket, or something?”

Luz moved out of the doorway, gesturing for Amity to come in – but it was impossible not to notice how Amity eyed the doorway as if it were a danger to her, before entering.

“What was it?” Eda called from the kitchen. “A delivery?”

“It was Amity,” Luz called back, eyes not leaving her green-haired friend. “Um – one second.”

Luz left Amity in the room for a moment, poking her head into the kitchen.

“Do we have enough food for one more tonight?” She asked quietly, hoping Amity wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.

Eda was chopping some sort of meat, hands still covered in that green mush. “Amity?” She asked softly. “She walked?”

“It looks like it,” Luz said, a frown causing her face to crease slightly. “It’s raining outside, though.”

Eda pondered for a second, before grabbing a can Luz had brought from the human world, and adding it to the pot. “Set another place at the table,” Eda commanded, moving to take a glance at the cook-book. “I’ll make it work. And make her some hot stag juice, maybe?”

With a nod, Luz backed out of the room, to see Amity still standing by the now-closed door, arms crossed over her chest and eyes on the floor. “Are you cold?” Luz asked again, rushing to grab Amity a blanket off the living room couch. “Hungry, maybe? We’ll eat soon, but we have snacks.”

Amity shook her head at the mention of food, nose wrinkling slightly, but graciously accepted the blanket. It wasn’t summer anymore, and the school uniform didn’t prevent the deep chill of the evening air from seeping in. Plus, Luz was assuming Amity hadn’t been able to keep up the forcefield _and_ have enough leftover magic energy to cast a heating spell… so she must be freezing.

“How about some hot stag beetle juice?” Luz walked into the living room, glad when Amity followed. To be honest, Luz didn’t really understand the drink – it was juice named after a bug for its unpleasant colour, and was textured a little like watery yoghurt – but, apparently, to witches with a magic pouch, it was like medicine. Very useful and very, very comforting.

There were bags under Amity’s eyes, Luz noted as they sat down. Deep, and gaunt against her pale skin. Luz had never seen Amity as anything but the perfect-student type front she put forwards; she’d broken out of it a couple times, sure – what with the library’s softness, and the grudgby competitiveness. But never like… this.

“I’ll get that, then,” Luz nodded to herself once Amity didn’t answer, concern gnawing at her stomach. “You’re sure you’re not hungry?”

Amity mouthed the word, ‘no’, but it was as if her voice had just left her – or it was too weak to be heard. Luz hurried to the kitchen, wanting to offer Amity all the comfort in the world. She hated seeing her friend like this.

Rain always brought bad things. First the curse, then the mind-swipe, and now… a broken Amity.

“You making stag juice?” Eda asked.

“Yeah,” said Luz, checking the cup’s temperature with the back of her hand. “It should help, right?”

“It’ll help.” Eda said confidently, reaching for a witch-grater (wildly different shape, but same purpose – plus the witch name was far too long to remember.) “And, hey – get King.”

King. Of course – he was feisty when awake, but a sleepy King was nothing but a walking ball of affection. Amity had to like cuddles. Everybody liked cuddles.

She picked up the mug as soon as it was hot enough, rushing back into the living room. “Here,” Luz said. Amity reached for the mug, drawing it close to her chest – as if she were using it for heat, rather than its medicinal properties. Maybe she wanted to inhale it for a while – or her hands were just cold.

King had apparently wandered downstairs since Luz had left him, and was curled up by Amity’s thigh – a picture of perfect innocence. That was good, she supposed.

Except, it left her with nothing to do.

Amity’s eyes were unfocussed – on some patch of carpet just beyond her untouched mug. She was breathing steadily (Luz could only tell because the quilted blanket was rising and falling in time with her breaths), but she still looked… empty.

Luz took a tentative seat besides Amity, making sure they weren’t touching in any way. She ached to help – but she didn’t know how. Honestly, Luz felt useless.

So she watched, as Amity focused on that patch of carpet, tentatively taking a sip of the stag juice, and hoped that her presence was enough.

“I-“ Amity began after half a cup of the juice had disappeared. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Luz asked. Amity’s voice was still little above a whisper, but at least she’d regained the strength to speak.

“For letting me in, I guess,” Amity said. Her eyes dropped to the mug, and her lower lip quivered. “I-“

She cut herself off, because her voice was unsteady – and Luz’s heart felt like it was about to shatter.

She wanted to ask what was wrong, desperately – she wanted to find out how she could help. But Luz knew she could be… a little much in the best of times, so it would be better if she stayed quiet. She needed to be whatever Amity needed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Luz asked tentatively. “Or not, if you don’t want to – we could just sit, like we’ve been doing, and stuff, I don’t mind, you-“

“Luz.” Amity’s voice was still weak, but her tone was stern enough that Luz silenced. “Can you talk?”

“Oh, sure,” Luz said. “About what?”

Amity shrugged, eyes drifting over to Luz. “Whatever you want to,” Amity said. This was the first time Luz had looked into Amity’s eyes since she’d shown up. A while ago, she was sure Amity had been about to cry – and even now, there was a deep sadness Luz couldn’t even hope to understand behind the amber. Amity looked tired, and fragile, and so un-Amity like it made Luz want to punch somebody. Whoever hurt her.

“Okay,” Luz said, clearing her throat and having to drop her eyes for some reason – the eye contact was too intense. “So, Eda’s been trying to learn to cook for a couple months now – she’s actually competing with my mom…”

* * *

Luz talked for a long time before Eda announced food was ready. At some point in her ramblings, which covered everything from her time in the human world to what she’d had for dinner the night before, King had wandered off into the kitchen, probably to offer his support. Luz had honestly expected Amity to, at some point, get tired of her voice, and tell her to stop, because the quiet was better than listening to Luz drone on about the difference between human and witch pancakes. But that time never came.

Eda always sat at the head of the table, and King at the bottom. So Luz settled into the middle, close enough to Amity that, if she wanted, she could reach out and hold her hand. She had a perfect view of Amity as she adjusted the quilt, still around her shoulders, and put the stag juice down by the side of her plate.

“Right,” Eda said, bringing the large pot of food into the room. “Humans call this stuff ‘gazpacho’, but I didn’t have some of the stuff I needed, so it might be a bit off.”

Luz took a spoonful, and wrinkled her nose slightly at the colour. Her mom’s gazpacho had always been a reddish orange, but this stuff was a deep green, almost black. “Smells good,” she said to Eda with a forced smile.

She watched as Amity served herself silently. Amity wasn’t really an extroverted person, but from what Luz had grown to know about her, she was usually very respectful – especially to adult figures. Luz could comfort her all she wanted in the living room, where it was just the two of them, but here was different.

“This doesn’t look very good, Eda!” King said with a frown (well, as much of a frown as his face could twist into.)

Eda shot him a glare, before serving herself. “Alright,” she said with a loud clearing of her throat. “Dig in, I guess.”

Amity’s eyes widened slightly, but she obeyed, dipping a spoon into the questionable substance. Luz watched as she took a little bit, nose wrinkling again. She expected Amity to put her spoon down – feign that she wasn’t hungry, or that she was feeling ill, because that was what _Luz_ did when Eda’s cooking was horrible – but she continued eating.

Luz took a spoonful for herself, wincing at the taste. It was nothing like her mother’s recipe.

“Damn,” Eda said, sniffing suspiciously at the spoonful. “This stuff smells disgusting.”

“Amity,” Luz said softly to her friend, who was still eating. “You don’t have to eat it if it isn’t nice.”

Amity’s eyes were wide – and she looked to Eda, then back to Luz. Slowly, she put her spoon down.

“Well I think it’s great!” King was chuckling, eating straight from the bowl (his claws weren’t very cutlery-friendly.)

“You can have it, then,” said Eda, pushing her bowl away. “Now… we’ve got that thing Luz’s mom sent her with last Sunday, or we can hope that a delivery place is open, even though it’s raining. What do we think?”

“It’s a Tuesday,” Luz frowned. “Don’t you want to save it for later in the week?”

“Yeah, but it’s raining, kid,” Eda made a gesture to one of the windows, where the slightly yellowed drops were falling to the already-shriveled grass. “Okay. Give me ten minutes, I’ll use a heating spell, and we can eat some good food.”

Eda got up, taking her bowl – and the large pot of the almost-gazpacho – back into the kitchen. Luz stood, expecting to go and sit in the living room whilst they waited. Amity’s eyes were still fixated on her plate.

“Amity?” Luz asked. “You want to wait in the living room?”

“But – I haven’t finished eating,” Amity said with a confused frown. “Eda – you…”

“The food’s inedible,” Luz chuckled softly – but Amity didn’t seem to find the joke funny. “I mean, Eda’s experimenting! Some recipes just don’t go to plan – and we don’t have to eat them.”

Amity stood, eyeing her bowl one more time. She followed Luz out.

* * *

“How did you even walk here?” Luz asked the moment they sat down, Luz sinking into the couch, Amity perched on the edge, adjusting the blanket. “I mean – yeah, the forcefield works, but the Blight manor is ages away from here – especially if you walk.”

Amity shrugged, fiddling with the edge of the blanket. “I don’t really want to talk about it,” she said quietly.

“But-“ Luz cut herself off. She’d been sympathetic towards Amity, but now she was itching for answers, so that she could help. It wasn’t her place to know; but Amity had come here, to _her,_ of all places. Didn’t that count towards something?

Amity was still sat on the edge of the sofa, at least a foot away from Luz. “C’mon, Amity,” Luz encouraged, sitting forwards a little. “You know you can trust me with anything, right?”

With a soft sigh, Amity nodded in Luz’s direction. Luz felt like that was all she would get out of her.

“Well,” Luz started, “guess I’ll talk again. Where was I before dinner? Oh – so then Willow bought the hat, but Gus was all like…”

* * *

They ate dinner. Some potato dish Camilia used to make in the summer, when her mom had friends around for barbecues, and such. It was nice, but filling; Luz left a third of her plate.

Amity ate every single bite.

* * *

“So…” Luz cleared her throats. “You should stay the night. I mean – you’re _welcome_ to stay the night, but you know, the rain…”

They were up in Luz’s bedroom (Eda, for some reason, set Amity on edge – so she’d been instructing Luz on what to do from a distance.) Luz had supplies for another bed – enough blankets that, if she layered them properly, could constitute for a sleeping bag, and a large fluffy pillow that just sat, unused. When Amity had shown up, Luz was pretty sure she’d said she ‘didn’t know where else to go’ – which probably meant this was the closest place to shelter from the rain, which meant her parents couldn’t come and pick her up.

Luz had known Amity for as long as she’d been coming to the witch realm, now – a little over two years, and counting. And, as much as Luz had made friends (Willow, Gus, those kids in the detention track), Amity had always kept herself somewhat reserved. Luz had many fond memories with Amity – like Grom, or the time they won that Grudgby match – but Amity was jumpy, and cautious, and so frugal with her time that Luz barely saw her outside of the school and the library.

She was pretty sure Amity had only been to the Owl House a handful of times – and yet knew where it was perfectly. So perfectly that she was able to find it in a storm?

“Alright,” Luz said. Amity, not for the first time that evening, remained silent. “I guess I’ll just… make you a bed, then?”

She got to work, piling the blankets, trying to ignore that Amity was just sort of… watching her. The task was easy, and Luz’s shuffling filled the silence, until there was a second bed, within arm’s reach of Luz’s own. “There,” Luz said, brushing her hands off and smiling triumphantly. “Now, I can get you some more hot stag beetle juice, or just some water, and we can go to sleep, if that’s what you want.”

“Some water sounds nice,” said Amity.

“Of course!” Luz nodded enthusiastically. “And you can borrow some pajamas, too – because you don’t have a bag, and school uniform would be very uncomfortable.”

She dug those out; a comfortable matching set of dark green, not unlike Amity’s hair, and walked downstairs to grab two glasses of water.

Eda was in the living room with King, reading one of the Azura books (it had taken two years of pestering – but Eda was on book 5 when Luz walked past. “You going to bed?” She asked Luz.

“Yeah,” Luz said. “It’s early, but Amity looked tired – so we’ll just go to sleep, I think.”

“Okay,” Eda nodded, returning to her page. “If you can, find out what’s bothering Amity. Maybe we can help.”

“Yeah.”

“Night, kid.”

“Goodnight, Eda,” Luz responded.

Walking up the stairs was a slow and daunting task, with two glasses full of water – but she reached the top, pushing into her room. Amity had taken the opportunity to change, and Luz’s green trousers were slightly long on her, pooling around her feet. Huh. Luz supposed she _had_ grown a little since she’d started coming to the witch realm, but she had always assumed everybody else was growing, too.

“Right, then,” Luz put the glasses down besides their beds. “Do you want to wash your face? Borrow a toothbrush?”

Amity nodded, and together, they walked into the bathroom, where Eda’s fifty or so different skin and hair products cluttered the counter. “Sorry for the mess,” Luz chuckled, picking up a few glass things in one hand before shoving the plastic to one side. “Eda’s very… picky. And King is too, actually – he says his fur has to be soft.”

Amity was smiling softly. In the mirror, Luz’s eyes got caught on the site; before she had to blink the weird haze away. “A brand-new toothbrush,” Luz said, handing it to Amity, “and a face wash. This is my one.”

“It’s a body wash,” Amity observed.

“So? Your face is part of your body.”

Amity let out a short breath through her nose in amusement, before turning on the tap. She pulled her hair out of her face, tying the rest of it up at the base of her neck.

 _Huh._ Luz had never seen Amity with any other hairstyle than the half-up quiff thing she did for school every day. It looked… nice. Amity had very nice collarbones, and a slender, blemish-free neck, that having her hair up accentuated.

Amity bent down to wet her face, and Luz could only watch. A strange feeling washed over her.

What they were doing was so… natural. Like, Luz had lived with her mother – and then with Eda, and King – but she’d never shared a space, and seen somebody get ready for bed quite this way. She didn’t _know_ what she was feeling – she’d never felt it before. It wasn’t unpleasant, though.

She needed to brush her teeth. She needed to stop thinking whatever the hell she was thinking about Amity, and go to bed.

And then they were in their respective ‘beds.’ Luz’s was really more of a sleeping bag, and Amity was lying on a cluster of blankets, but it worked. “Goodnight, Amity,” Luz said, pressing her head into the pillow.

They were both lying on their sides – facing each other. Luz wanted to close her eyes, but Amity was staring right at her. She wanted to cast a light spell, if only to try and see what Amity was thinking.

“Hey, Luz?” Amity asked softly. The rain was a hum in the background. “Thank you for letting me stay.”

Luz blinked. “Of course. Nobody deserves to be stuck in the rain.”

It might have been a trick of the light (or lack-of-it), but Luz could swear she saw Amity frown. “Yeah,” Amity’s voice dropped further. “Night, Luz.”

Amity rolled over, until all Luz could see was her back – and Luz couldn’t help but feel like she’d done something wrong. With the whole… weirdness of today, right up until just now, when Amity turned away from her. Now that she thought about it, Amity hadn’t even been in school today.

Luz closed her eyes, and swore to herself she’d get answers tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!! thank you so much for clicking on this story, and I hope you liked the first chapter!! honestly, I have no clue how long i'm planning for this to be, only that it will probably be going on for a while. it's set in a weird limbo-time in canon - imagine episodes 1-17 happened, and then life just continued on for 2 years.
> 
> if you enjoyed, please don't forget to leave a kudo/ a comment!! they make me so happy <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't mind me, just crying because this fic got, like, 500 kudos in the span of one week...
> 
> y'all are too nice to me - so I present you with chapter 2. :)

When Luz awoke, she was alone. Waking was always a slow process – she preferred to lounge, and dream, until the sun was halfway through the sky – but today, she had something to do.

She turned her head. Amity was not by her side.

Instead, the ‘bed’, of sorts, compiled in a rush yesterday and made up of dozens of thin blankets, was neatly made – far neater than it had been when Luz had assembled it yesterday – with the blankets perfectly aligned at each edge. The pillow, perched right on top, was smoothed over. It was as if nobody had even slept there.

Strange. Luz stretched her arms over her head, letting out a small groan, and forced herself to stand. Her limbs, like every morning, felt heavy, and wood-like – and she was sure her hair was at ends with itself (ha – at _ends,_ because it’s… you know what, never mind.)

She’d brush her teeth later, she decided as she took the stairs at a lazy pace, hands reaching up to brush through her hair. Without a mirror, the action was probably futile – and most days, she wouldn’t even bother (because if King spoke out, he was being a hypocrite, and Eda understood her struggles a little too well.) But Amity, with her perfect, pin-straight hair, had stayed over, and was possibly downstairs. She just… wanted to look nice. Presentable, she supposed.

“Morning!” Luz called out as she reached the bottom of the steps, another yawn escaping her. Eda’s voice filtered through from the living room, which was usually where she could be found when Luz woke up; cup of witch-coffee in one hand and stressing about something or other (for example: yesterday morning, Luz had woken to screaming – Eda had misplaced the key to one of the human items she was selling, and was accusing King for eating it, as some revenge plot. This was a normal occurrence.)

“Morning, Luz!” Eda called. “Come through here!”

Luz obeyed, walking into the living room to see Eda sitting on the sofa with Amity. Eda had an arm over the back of the sofa, the other holding an unhealthily large mug of witch-coffee to her lips, and two books placed on her crossed legs. Amity was curled up on the other side of the sofa, in the same quilted blanket Luz had offered her yesterday – although it wasn’t really necessary anymore, considering it wasn’t cold in the house. Perhaps Amity liked that it was soft – Luz had always favored the same blanket for that exact reason, after all. In fact, now that she thought about it, Amity may have never put that blanket down.

“So you’re on the abomination track,” Eda said to Amity – some continuation of a conversation they must’ve been having before Luz had arrived. “What made you pick that?”

“My parents,” Amity said. “And I’m good at it.”

Eda’s chuckle was loud, and boisterous – and apparently shocking enough that it made Amity flinch. “I see,” Eda nodded sagely, “relying on natural talent. Well back in my day, you used to be _assigned_ your tracks; of course, that didn’t stop me from getting where I am today.”

“Um, Eda?” Luz asked. “Why are you interrogating my friend?”

“I’m not _interrogating_ her,” Eda scoffed, taking a large gulp of the coffee. “I’m just getting to know her. You haven’t brought Amity over since that thing with Willow; lawyer me.”

“It’s ‘sue me’, Eda. A lawyer is just _how_ you sue someone.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Eda adjusted herself on the couch. “The point is the same. Now that you’re up, I assume I should start cooking?”

“Right!” Luz nodded. “Amity – you’re gonna come to school with me, right?”

Amity blinked. “What?”

“Well,” Luz pressed on, “it’s a bit of a hassle to call your parents just to pick you up – why don’t we just go straight to school?”

“But –“ Amity coughed gently, as if she’d choked on the air. “We’re going to school?”

“Well, yeah,” Luz smiled. “It’s a school day, isn’t it?”

“But,” Amity’s eyes were widening for a reason Luz couldn’t place. Her voice trailed off, until her eyes were fixed on the floor. She clutched the blanket tighter around herself, rubbing one cheek into the soft fabric.

“What, you thought we’d skip school and have a whole day sleepover together?” Luz laughed teasingly. “I take my witch lessons very seriously – and Wednesday’s my favourite day!”

“If you don’t want to go,” Eda piped in, still sat on the couch – although her tone was steady, and not unlike how Eda used to talk to Luz when she was scared. “You could always stay with me until your parents can come pick you up.”

Amity’s eyes drifted over to Eda, who had her head tipped back, chasing the last gulps of the coffee, and shook her head weakly. “I can go to school,” she said. After a moment, her nose wrinkled in a practiced manner, and she mumbled, “I’m not staying at the _Owl Shack.”_

“Great!” Luz exclaimed. “Now, I don’t know how you get ready – but you have your uniform, and we have an hour before we need to start walking, so I assume you want a shower…”

* * *

Luz and Amity set off just on time. Luz had been to busy trying to tame her now-longer-and-therefore-curlier hair in the mirror when Eda had yelled up that breakfast was ready, and she was so late that they’d been kicked out, breakfast in hand, for the walk. The weather was… nice. Luz hated the rain, but she really didn’t mind the aftermath – watching the plants grow back quickly, making room for new and different wildflowers. The world, so gray, could suddenly be returned to its lively green. Usually, she’d be content to walk in silence, eat, and observe.

Except, there was _Amity_ walking besides her.

Luz had never really had to deal with silence. She was very good at making conversation, and had a set of friends that were also good at the same thing. In the human world, her house was always alive with music – be it the cars past her windows, or her mother’s singing to the radio as she cooked downstairs. In the Boiling Isles, some of that had gone away (you didn’t really get car horns honking) – but Luz was enthusiastic, and always had a new glyph to talk about, or a crazy tale to tell about Eda’s weird actions from the days before. However, this was Amity – little miss perfect – and she probably wouldn’t approve of Luz’s incessant rambling.

Not in the way she’d dealt with it yesterday, at least. Or… hadn’t dealt with it?

Yesterday had been a weird day. Luz had gone to bed with the intention of figuring Amity out, except it was morning, and this was the first chance she’d gotten, and she was unable to ask. Of course she should ask – but breaking their already long and awkward silence to be like ‘hey, by the way, why did you come to my house in the rain and act all non-verbal? Just wondering’ would ruin whatever weak bonds of friendship they currently had. Also, wouldn’t it be considered rude to ask? Maybe Amity just wanted a friend, and still ‘didn’t want to talk about it’, like she’d claimed the night before.

If she was being honest, Luz couldn’t get Amity out of her mind. That scared look, as Amity showed up outside their door. The timidness Luz had literally never expected to see on her. The… everything. It was as if the night, replaying in her mind, was trying to dissect itself, except Luz had no dissecting tools so all she could do was prod at the images and take vague guesses at what was happening.

Luz hated seeing her friends hurt. And, whilst she’d never actually seen Amity hurt before, she was pretty sure this was what it looked like.

Gods, she wanted to do something about it. She _liked_ her personality – her drive to be there for her friends, her loyalty, her strength against the ‘bad guys.’ But it was bugging her to just figure out what was wrong with Amity, and fix it; except that wasn’t something she could do.

It was all so damn frustrating.

“Hey, Luz?” Amity spoke up. Luz had long since finished her food – maybe she’d had a speck of jam on the sides of her mouth, or something.

“What’s up?” Luz asked, feigning nonchalance. She wasn’t even _concerned_ about Amity – no, she’d been in her head about homework, or something like that.

“Can you… not tell people that I’m staying at your house?” Amity asked. “Nothing personal – it’s just, I guess I don’t want them jumping to conclusions.”

Wow. Since last night, that was the most words Amity had spoke in one go. “Sure, Amity,” Luz said. “Whatever you want.”

Amity was nodding, and then they were at the school gates, and all at once that head of green hair had disappeared. Luz’s chest both tightened with regrets of _damn_ , _we really should have talked that through_ and lightened with the ‘breakthrough’, of sorts. It meant Amity wasn’t exactly holding herself back from speaking to Luz – she’d just felt quiet, the night before. It probably meant she understood that Luz _meant_ it when she said she’d listen to anything Amity wanted to say.

“Luz!” A familiar voice called, and Luz turned around, only to be hit with a hug from Gus. “You’re late!”

“I was… talking to Amity,” Luz said as means of an explanation. Not technically a lie.

“Listen,” Gus continued, “the human society has been wondering if you could come and explain the latest addition – _airpods –_ to us? We run this lunchtime, and I know you don’t haver any prior arrangements, because you don’t hang out with anybody but us.”

“Hey!” Luz frowned. “I take offense to that!”

“No offence was meant,” Gus said fondly. “Willow’s inside – talking to Boscha, I think? They’ve been hover-sharing now that they’re ‘friends’, which… honestly is just weird.”

“So, the human appreciation society?”

“Right! So, you said they worked on a system called _Bluetooth…”_

* * *

Luz got home early, and dumped her bag by the door, content to collapse onto the couch and groan about her difficult day to whoever was listening (King was usually there – but if he wasn’t, well, the _house_ was alive, and was probably interested in her story.) Ten minutes into her spiel-turned-nap, there was a knock at the door.

“You left me behind,” Amity said with a groan and a half-hard glare, standing outside.

“Woah, Amity,” Luz said with a genuine grin. “You want to stay over again?”

Amity’s thick eyebrows drew together. “I… yeah,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Didn’t I make that clear yesterday?”

Hard as she tried, Luz’s memory wasn’t the best – she’d probably mentioned it, and it had gone in one ear and out the other. “Alright,” Luz said, moving to allow Amity into the house, again. “Two day sleepover! Awesome!”

“We missed you, Amity,” drawled Hooty as Amity walked through the door. “Would you like to hear the song I wrote whilst you two were away at school?”

Luz shut the door quickly, letting out a sigh. “Alright,” she said, turning to Amity and pasting on her brightest smile. “Do you have any homework? We should do it now, so we don’t forget.”

“Okay,” Amity nodded, seemingly having found some purpose in Luz’s words. She hadn’t had a school bag (Luz didn’t know what she was expecting; she hadn’t shown up last night with the bag, so why would she have it at school?) so she was stuck with the few folders from her locker. She seemed to be unbothered as she led the way to the living room. Luz followed, until Amity stopped in her tracks.

Eda was sitting, enchantments lit up around her. She tended to do this, Luz had learnt – every time she discovered a new spell, or found a new potion recipe, she sat in the centre of the largest room and practiced until she got it perfect. This one seemed to be illusion magic – eight Eda’s were sitting in a circle around her, and the real Eda was only discernible by the frames perched on her nose. She was poured over a book, muttering to herself.

“Okay,” Luz said with a light chuckle, placing a hand on Amity’s arm to tug her away. “Maybe we could study in the kitchen?”

“Eda does illusion magic?” Amity asked, allowing herself to get pulled in a different direction. “But I thought she was a… I don’t know, actually.”

“Eda never joined a coven,” Luz explained, dumping her bag on the kitchen worksurface and taking a seat. “So she has access to all magic, and practices all of it – except, every now and again, she’ll forget a spell, or discover a new one; so she has to practice.” Luz pulled her textbook out, adding on, “it’s actually _pretty_ cool, if you ask me.”

“Right,” Amity said, settling into her own seat. Her folders were set on the floor, tucked under her feet, and she had a single sheet of paper in front of her – as if she were deliberately trying _not_ to take up room (which was ridiculous, because Luz’s stuff was taking up, like, half the countertop, so surely Amity knew it was okay to be a little messy.) “And she just practices in the living room?”

“Yup!” Luz chuckled. “Alright… did we get any abomination homework? We can do that together!”

Luz started on the work, moving considerably slower than Amity was, and having to pause to ask for help from her friend a few times – but the worksheet got completed, and soon Luz was moving onto her next track’s homework, whilst Amity continued with the extra abomination stuff. A little under an hour into their session (Luz could measure them, because every ten minutes, she felt like her head was about to implode, and would groan loudly to dramatically emphasise the fact to whoever was there to hear it) and Eda shuffled in, followed by two more illusion Eda’s.

“Oh, hey Amity,” Eda-number-1 said casually. “Your bed’s still set up?”

“I didn’t put it away this morning,” said Luz. “Is it alright if Amity stays another night?”

“Amity can stay as long as she wants,” Eda said genuinely; Luz noted how Eda’s eyes landed on Amity and the two exchanged a glance. Eda-2 and Eda-3 were busying themselves around the kitchen, taking out various pots and pans. “Now, Willow told me one of your favourite dishes is Hareega salad; which, fortunately, is a witch food I know how to make.”

“Hareega salad?” Luz asked. “You’ve never made that for me.”

“You’ve never asked for it,” Eda said in rebuttal, turning her back to the two kids. “You could stay, whilst I cook – or you could go up to your room, finish your homework, and then watch a movie, or something.”

Ah, yes – the old DVD player Luz had bought second-hand and brought to the witch world. Eda now owned a whole stack of Ghibli movies – and was becoming quite the enthusiast, recommending them to everybody she met when given the chance. “What do you think, Amity?”

Amity was already scooping up her folders into her arms, wide-eyed with confusion. “Uh,” she stumbled, looking back to Luz for guidance.

Luz smiled, warmly. “My room it is,” she said, picking up all her stuff. “Alright; let’s get the homework done quick – I want to show you what a movie is!”

“I know what a _movie_ is, Luz; I’ve spoken to Gus before.”

“Yeah… but have you ever seen one?”

They exited the room, just as Eda reached for a pot on the countertop. The pot, and the two extra Eda’s, vanished with a poof.

“Right,” Eda mumbled, cursing under her breath and reaching to open the cabinet. “Illusion magic.”

* * *

“Luz,” Amity said, somewhat insistently. Luz had been humming softly for the past ten minutes as she finished off the last dregs of her homework. Amity had finished an hour ago, and was once again leafing through an Azura book.

Did the humming bother her? “What’s up?” Luz said, not tearing her eyes away from the work. She was _so close_ to figuring out this equation. It was on the cusp of her thought. From the position on her belly, feet kicking softly behind her, she was in the perfect physical position to optimise her brain power.

“ _Luz,”_ Amity emphasised again. “Can we talk?”

Luz turned her head to Amity, eyebrows drawn. “Sure,” she said, confusion seeping into her tone. “You want me to sit up?”

Amity nodded, and Luz obeyed, hand fiddling with the pen that was still in her hands. “What’s up, Amity?” Luz asked.

Amity opened her mouth – and, for a moment, she looked exactly like she had done the night before; cheeks flushed, vulnerable. No words came out, though, and she swallowed, eyes darting around the floor, as if searching for what to say.

Luz offered what she hoped was a warm smile – but Amity wasn’t looking. “I,” she tried again, clearing her throat. “I don’t think you understood what I meant yesterday.”

Luz blinked. That had _not_ been what she was expecting Amity to say. “I don’t get it.” She said. “What did you mean?”

“That –“ Amity let out a harsh sigh. “When I said, ‘can I stay,’ I didn’t just mean for that night.”

Amity was biting her lip. Luz’s fidgeting with the pen stopped. “But… you came to hide from the rain, right?”

A shake of Amity’s head. A tilt of Luz’s own. “Then why _did_ you come?”

“Because I ran away from home.” Amity finally said. The words came out fast, and yet Luz had to sound them out in her head for a few extra seconds. “Yesterday.”

“In the _rain?”_ Luz asked. Amity let out a humourless breath of laughter.

“I couldn’t take it anymore – so yes, in the rain.”

“But – why?”

Amity looked down, to where she was fiddling with the blanket’s edge. “The twins left for their university-exploration course, so it’s just been me, and Mom, and Dad, at home.” Her voice was soft. “They’re… not very nice.”

“Do they hit you?” Luz asked, alarmed. Amity’s eyes shot up.

“No!” She was quick to clarify, hands coming up to disprove the words. “No, nothing like that. They’re just… very… controlling.”

Luz’s nose wrinkled. Now that she thought back – when they’d gone into Willow’s head, she’d seen hints of it, and then again when Amity had been grounded for two weeks after the Grudgby match. And then, one day when Luz had made a house call for Amity, Amity had suddenly pulled away; stopped being her friend, anywhere outside of school – and even there was strained. Yes, it made sense, now that she was looking, that Amity’s parents were controlling.

“And you came here?” Luz asked. “The Blight estate is _ages_ away. You walked here in the rain?”

A nod, of confirmation. “Why?” Luz asked.

“Other people would have asked questions,” Amity said – although Luz _really_ didn’t understand. “Boscha’s parents would have called my parents, Willow’s dad’s are too nice to _not_ notice, and that leaves… you.”

“Me,” Luz echoed.

“Well – and the crazy Owl Lady,” Amity said.

“…Alright.” Luz said. “So – your parents suck, the twins are gone, you ran away from home and came here?”

“Basically,” Amity said. She’d gone back to fiddling with the blanket. “So… can I stay?”

Luz’s entire demeanour softened. If _this_ was what had been on Amity’s mind – Gods, of course she’d looked so dejected yesterday. And Luz had left her at school? Wow – talk about bad friend alert.

“Of course you can stay,” she said. Amity, in her entirety, seemed to sag in relief.

“But…” Luz continued. “There is one problem.”

“What?” Amity asked, eyes darting up to meet Luz’s, frantic. “What is it?”

“Well…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't forget to leave kudos and comments!!! they nourish me, in this s2-hiatus time of need.
> 
> and thank you for reading!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, lgbtq community (and if there are any straights that made it this far, i commend you, and welcome you with open arms)
> 
> here you go ;) enjoy!!

“You don’t have any clothes,” Luz said with a wince.

Amity blinked for a moment – looking down at her uniform. “What?” She hissed, looking back up at Luz with a mixture of confusion and anger.

“Well, you can’t just keep borrowing my stuff!” Luz said, voice rising.

“Why not?” Amity responded.

Letting out a harsh sigh, Luz put her hands out, as if to calm the both of them. “Alright,” she said, “I worded that wrong.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Amity grumbled.

“But…” Luz continued, “my point remains. You have no stuff.”

“I have _some_ stuff.”

“Not the point, Amity.”

Amity crossed her arms over her chest, eyes looking off to the side in some childish grump. It made the edges of Luz’s lips quirk up at the cuteness of the gesture. The simplicity of it. “Anyway,” she pressed on, “it’ll be a problem, moving forwards.”

“Great.” Said Amity. “What do you suppose we do? Go shopping?”

“No. I say we break into your house.”

Luz had the pleasure of watching the moment her words registered, and Amity’s eyes widened like saucers with horror. “Break in?” She whisper-yelled, as if the words themselves were prohibited. “To the _Blight_ estate?”

“Yeah!” Luz said. “How bad can it be? We have magic.”

“It’s the _Blight_ estate!”

“You know your way around.”

“It’s literally guarded by magic tomes.”

“That we can disable… with magic!”

Amity let out a long sigh, a hand moving to rub the bridge of her nose. “Alright,” she said after a while of apparently contemplation. “Say we _did_ manage to disable the magical security, climb in my locked-from-the-inside bedroom window, and have enough time to pack me a couple bags. How do we scale back down with all that stuff, and leave inconspicuously?”

“We’ll fly!” Luz said. “Eda won’t mind us borrowing Owlbert.”

A crease formed between Amity’s eyebrows. “Eda… lets you use her palisman? Her sacred companion?”

“Well, yeah,” Luz said. “Owlbert and I have been buddies since this one run-in with the Bat Queen – don’t look so horrified, it was ages ago – and Eda trusts me too.”

Amity looked sceptical. “Right,” she said. “When?”

“How about now?”

* * *

“This is a horrible idea,” Amity groaned, one hand wrapped like a vice around Luz’s waist, the other probably holding onto the staff.

“I think it’s amazing!” Luz had to shout, turning her head slightly but not taking her eyes off of where they were going. They’d waited until it got dark (and it got dark fast in the winters of the Boiling Isles.) If Amity didn’t like this, Luz thought, she’d _hate_ motorbikes. “You don’t like flying?”

Amity let out a terrified moan as a response, crushing Luz’s ribs even harder. Seriously – she must’ve been using a strength spell, or something.

“Okay,” Luz said. “Let’s go through our game plan again.”

“We don’t _have_ a game plan, Luz.”

“Of course we do!” Luz defended. Owlbert dropped slightly in the air, making Luz laugh, and Amity scream. “That’s Owlbert’s way of saying he agrees.”

“Okay,” Amity breathed out. “We fly up to the window. Unlock it with a spell. Pack two or three bags full of stuff. Leave on Owlbert, and fly back to the Owl Shack.”

“Back _home,”_ Luz corrected.

Amity was silent for a while. “What happens if my parents see us?”

“We run,” Luz said. “Well; we fly away, I guess. No human – or witch – left behind!”

“This is a horrible idea,” Amity repeated. “Can’t we just buy me new clothes?”

“Not all of us are trust fund babies, Amity,” Luz grumbled playfully, moving an elbow to nudge at Amity’s own arm, still wrapped around her. “Hey; maybe you could steal a credit card whilst we’re at it.”

“A _what?”_

“Nothing. My humour is wasted here. Remind me to make that joke with Gus later.”

The Blight Manor was in their sights, through the forest they’d had to go through as a shortcut, and for cover. If Luz didn’t know better (if she was still naïve, and fourteen, and wide-eyed at the idea of witches), she’d have thought it was a palace – what with its stone turrets and expansive gardens. The Blights, as it would seem, were a very well-off witch family; working under a powerful coven probably paid very well. Actually (now that Luz thought about it), she had no clue what Amity’s parents did.

She’d have to ask Amity about it, later. Everybody had to _work –_ hell, even Eda had her own… side hustle.

“Alright,” Luz said with a whoop of enthusiasm. “Let’s disable these security measures.”

Luz pulled Owlbert to a hovering stop, several feet from the ground but close enough to see the thin border of the Blight estate’s security forcefield, which shimmered, a barely-there bubble. Amity cast a wordless spell, and Luz pulled out a series of pre-prepared glyphs, activating them before letting them scatter to the ground. The forcefield, which had been shimmering a translucent silver, disabled with a flicker.

“Step one complete,” Luz whispered to Amity dorkily, before directing Owlbert to continue flying. She could practically feel Amity’s eye roll against her shoulder.

“Okay,” Luz was whispering now; the Blight estate was weirdly large, and also made her weirdly uncomfortable. “Which one is your bedroom?”

Amity pointed to one of the turrets near the edge of the building, and Luz couldn’t help but snort. “Wow,” Luz said. “You really are a princess.”

“Stop it,” Amity grumbled into Luz’s shirt. Somewhere through the ride, her head had found purchase using the dip between Luz’s shoulder blades as a resting spot – and her breath seemed to warm Luz from the inside out.

“What, you don’t like being called a princess?”

Amity burrowed further into Luz’s back, and Luz felt a shiver up her spine that she _really_ hoped Amity didn’t also feel. “Let’s just get this over with,” Amity grumbled.

“Yes, ma’am,” Luz said, pulling up to Amity’s bedroom window. “Would you do the honours, Miss Blight?”

Amity lifted her head, making a quick circle and pushing into the window – which clicked open. “I’m so nervous, it isn’t even funny,” she said to Luz.

“We got this!” Luz said in return. “Now you have to jump in.”

Amity shot Luz a glare, before reaching her hands out to the windowsill and somehow gracefully lifting herself from the staff to it in one fluid motion. Before Luz could blink, Amity had slid feet-first into the room, and was turning back, gesturing for Luz to, “hurry up!”

Luz awkwardly climbed onto the window, making sure to keep a firm hand on Owlbert, before manoeuvring herself into Amity’s bedroom, too. “Okay,” Luz said, watching as Amity moved from one side of the room to the other, having already located a bag. “What do you need me to do?”

Amity was stuffing the full contents of her dresser into her bag. “Get my school stuff,” she said, gesturing vaguely to the corner of her room where her desk resided.

Obeying, Luz grabbed Amity’s school bag, trying to organise the sheets so they wouldn’t crumple in the bag. “Hey, your room’s changed a lot, huh,” she said, shoving folders into the bag. “No more Emperor’s coven poster?”

“My parents gave that one to me,” Amity said from her side of the room, not bothering to look up, “and when I figured out it was all a corrupt system – they paid Belos, who paid Lilith, who ‘favourited’ me – I tore it down.”

Luz had to look up at that, just to see the impassiveness on Amity’s face. “Wow,” she said, zipping up the school bag. “What next?”

“Um,” Amity stood, bag full. “I have about half my clothes. We should hurry. Pack the rest – I’ll get personal things.”

Luz grabbed the bag Amity was handing her, sitting next to the drawer Amity had already half-emptied. “No replacement posters?” She asked.

“Do we really have to talk about this now?” Amity asked, shoving her notepad into a backpack. “Aren’t we supposed to be all sneaky?”

“Just curious,” Luz said. “I won’t see this room again.”

“Yeah, well, hopefully neither will I,” Amity muttered. “I’m done.”

A creak on the stairs caused both Luz and Amity to freeze, exchanging a wide-eyed glance. “We should go,” Amity insisted.

“Okay,” Luz said, standing with her two bags, and Owlbert. “Think; you need anything else?”

Amity surveyed the room for the last time; slowly, calculatingly. “Nope,” she said, swinging a bag onto her back. “I am all done here.”

“Good riddance,” Luz said. “Okay; let’s get out of here.”

* * *

When they returned to the Owl House, there was another bed next to Luz’s. Luz’s bed wasn’t _really_ a bed – rather a mattress and a sleeping bag atop it, with a pillow that was so fluffy it was magically enchanted. But now there was a matching one, with a purple sleeping bag rather than a blue one, and a matching, overly fluffy pillow.

The blankets Luz had used were folded up in the corner, for a cold night. And, Luz noted, the beds were further apart – but still close enough that, if Luz reached out with one hand, and Amity with the other, their hands could still meet in the middle.

Amity entered the room behind her, as Luz was putting her bags down – but Luz could’ve sworn she caught a glimpse of watery-eyes from her green-haired companion. She didn’t say anything about it, though.

Instead, Luz collapsed onto her own mattress, sprawled out like a starfish, and said, “That secret mission was hard work.”

“We’re calling it a secret mission now?” Amity asked, putting her own two bags next to where Luz had dumped them. If Amity’s voice was a little throaty, Luz pretended not to notice. “I thought it was a stealth mission.”

Luz shrugged. “Which sounds cooler?”

Amity moved to perch on the edge of the mattress, hands clasping together over her drawn-in knees. “They both sound pretty dorky to me,” she said teasingly, quietly. Luz let her eyes close, a lazy smile playing on her lips.

A moment passed. Two. Luz heard no movement, though.

“You can lie down, you know,” Luz said. “It’s your bed.”

“It’s a sorry excuse for a bed,” Amity said. “What is this – a sleeping bag?”

“It’s actually very comfortable,” defended Luz. “But despite what you think of it – it’s yours.”

She lifted her head, looking Amity in the eyes, revealing the full glory of her double chin and holding that gaze until Amity relented, lowering herself to her side, and placing her head delicately on the pillow. It took a minute for the entirety of the tension to leave Amity’s body – for her to just _relax._

Luz wanted to ask a million questions. Yes, Amity didn’t want to live at home anymore – but why? What qualified as such a dire situation, that you couldn’t live with your parents anymore? She’d explained why she’d come here in the heat of the moment, but why had she stayed?

But Luz looked over, and Amity was relaxed – enough so that, if given the chance, she’d probably melt into a puddle of sleep. And, so, Luz decided, her questions could wait.

* * *

“Hey,” Luz tapped on Amity’s shoulder softly, trying to wake the girl from her slumber. “Food’s ready. We need to eat.”

Amity was drooling slightly in her sleep – mouth opened into a small slit, breaths heavy, and even. Her eyelashes were a deep brown, like the roots of her hair, and long enough to almost skate across the apples of her cheeks.

Luz tried again, hand resting fully on Amity’s arm. She squeezed gently – and then shook.

Amity startled awake, eyes wide and mouth slamming shut, one hand over Luz’s own in a tight grip. Her eyes were alert, but unfocussed; lazy with sleep. She looked at Luz, and blinked. Her grip softened.

“Sorry,” Amity said, releasing Luz’s hand and letting her body fall lax. “You scared me.”

“That’s okay,” Luz hurried to say. “I woke you because food is ready. We’re having this witch food today – you might know it? Eda said it’s called Flortic peppers.”

Amity took a moment to understand the words, before she nodded. “They’re nice,” she said. “My che- I used to eat them with cream cheese.”

“Oh, cool!” Luz said, standing up – both to distance herself from the soft sight of Amity, hair mussed with sleep, drool still stuck to her cheek – and get the two of them moving. “Well, it’s ready. Maybe we have some cream cheese.”

Amity stood, stretching her arms above her head, and Luz watched the curve of her spine, the slight ripple of muscle in her arms. Suddenly, her throat was dry.

“Let’s go!” Luz said, voice far too high-pitched, and strained, like it was coming from the back of her throat. She bounded down the stairs, not even looking for Amity behind her, and walked straight into the dining room.

“Hey, Luz!” Greeted King with a wave of his paw. “How was your day at school?”

Eda entered with the flortic peppers then, placing them, still sizzling, on each person’s plate. Amity also walked in, silently sitting opposite Luz, mirrored to how they’d sat yesterday.

“Dinner is served!” Eda said cheerfully. Luz’s eyes met Amity’s across the table, and she gestured to the side of her lip, where Amity had some leftover drool.

Amity swiped, face turning bright red.

“My day was good, King!” Luz said. “Busy – but productive! I’m really enjoying the Beast Keeping classes, recently.”

“Oh, yeah,” Eda said with disdain. “Beast Keeping. What a useful track.”

Luz cut into her pepper, trying not to be off-put by the way it did _not_ look like a pepper – more like a very large, thicker, orange rind – filled with cottage cheese. “You have a favourite track?” Luz asked.

“Well, not a favourite – more ones I happen to dislike,” Eda explained, taking a bite of her food.

“Ones she wasn’t as good at!” King said with a laugh. He was eating his pepper, despite how it was still steaming, straight off the plate.

Luz took a bite of the food, surprised that it actually tasted good. Spicy, weirdly – but good.

“Which ones did you like, then?”

“Oh, you know, the usuals,” Eda said casually. “Illusions. Plants. I dabbled in Oracle, too, I suppose.”

“Right,” Luz said. “Well, I’ll get good!”

Eda’s face transformed into a soft smile. “Of course you will, kid,” she said. “Now eat up. How’d I do on this one?”

“Really good, actually,” Luz said. “It’s delicious.”

Eda nodded. “King?”

“I love it!” King said enthusiastically.

“Amity?”

Luz looked over to Amity, who’d been staring down at her plate since she’d finished; eating quickly, because she wasn’t talking. “Oh,” she said, flushing again, slightly, “it was… good?”

Eda studied Amity for a second, before nodding. “Great,” she said, clapping her hands. “I’ll have to make this again.”

She cast a spell, and the plates picked themselves up and herded into the kitchen, probably to the sink. “Alright, kids, I’m going out for a bit – so no new spells, especially if they’re fire-based. I’ll be back before you’re asleep.”

Eda reached around to hug Luz’s back, and flicked King’s shell softly, earning a yelp of indignation from him. Luz stood, straightening imaginary wrinkles in her clothes.

“Okay,” she said to Amity. “We have some time to kill, I guess.”

* * *

Luz went to bed at the same time as Amity – after a bout of productivity in the form of getting her potions homework finished. They’d washed up together, and Luz had watched as they brushed their teeth in tandem, and then decidedly not watched as Amity washed her face, actions dainty and somehow graceful. Luz had gotten into bed, and zipped up her sleeping bag, when she noticed Amity wasn’t besides her.

Instead, she was sitting on the edge of the mattress, eyes fixed on the window behind their heads. “What are you doing?” Luz asked. The window was the only source of light; pale, and silver, and filtering in like water to illuminate parts of Amity’s glassy skin.

“Nothing,” Amity said, continuing to watch the window. “Just looking at the stars.”

“Oh,” said Luz, with a nod that hopefully gave off an impression of understanding. “You do that often?”

Amity shrugged. “Sometimes,” she murmured. “Not really.”

Luz unzipped her sleeping bag a little so she could flip onto her stomach, looking out the window. The Boiling Isles’ constellations had served her well many times in her two years here – and she’d always liked staring up, looking for hidden puzzle pieces in them. But she’d never looked, here or in the human world, just to appreciate the stars’ beauty.

She looked at Amity, and wondered why she’d never stopped to look.

Amity let out a long, contented sigh, opening the sleeping bag and slipping inside. “Good night, Luz,” she said, eyes shutting in the dark.

“Night, Amity,” Luz said back.

“Hey,” Amity said, after a minute. “Thank you. For everything.”

Luz’s eyes re-opened, to find Amity had trained her own amber-irises on hers. “It’s alright,” Luz’s voice came out just above a whisper. “Anytime.”

Amity hummed, the smallest of smiles finding purchase on her lips, before she turned over, eventually stilling into relaxation. Luz let out a breath, turning onto her back.

The memories of Amity replayed in her head long into her dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't mind me, and this reminder to leave a kudo and a comment, because i cry over each and every one, i promise
> 
> also here's your daily reminder to stream lmp & ordinary because both are B O P S


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, furiously googling 'bread-related' puns to write like 2 lines of this chapter, and then realizing it's like 4 days overdue: oops :)
> 
> in other news, i would once again like to thank you all for every bookmark, kudo, page-click, subscription and (!!!) comment I have recieved on this work. i'm kind of shocked people are actually enjoying this, but i love writing it, and not gonna lie, the appreciation feels pretty good.
> 
> enjoy this chapter!!

Luz hadn’t really been expecting it, but Amity’s integration into the Owl House wasn’t as seamless as she was hoping for it to be. That first (official) night had been fine, and Thursday had passed almost in the same way – without the whole breaking-and-entering extravaganza, of course. She’d woken late, and seen Amity and Eda in the living room again – Eda, this time, knitting, and Amity with that same quilted blanket around her like a protective barrier.

(Luz hated to say it, but they really should wash that blanket. Maybe there was a spell for that kind of thing. She’d have to ask Eda, later.)

“Morning,” Luz had said after a moment, worried her voice would break the dreamlike silence of the room. Where Amity had turned slightly, offering a delicate smile, Eda had made a positive grunt of acknowledgement, continuing with her task.

Mealtimes had become a silent affair. Well, not exactly silent – King and Eda could talk circles around each other all night if Luz left them be. But Eda liked to take interest in what Luz had been up to during the day, and apparently, this rule now outstretched to Amity.

Amity, who was apparently wholly underprepared for any sort of attention.

On Thursday, which Luz was quickly beginning to dub ‘Amity’s first real night’, she’d remained silent for a full minute, seemingly not even having realized attention was being placed on her – before she stopped eating, face going bright red, mouth sputtering in a desperate attempt to gather a response. Eda had chuckled light-heartedly, telling Amity to, “take your time, kid,” and then taking another bite of food. Amity had eventually managed to wheeze out a, “fine,” and was pointedly tense for the rest of the dinner.

“It’s okay,” Luz had said as they were getting ready, Amity brushing her teeth. “Eda won’t bite you if you can’t answer on the spot. No need to choke.”

And then, Friday morning’s breakfast, and Eda had asked, ‘how did you two sleep?’ and Amity had actually choked (like – literally, Luz had to get out of her seat and squeeze Amity’s ribs.) Mental note to self; check why Amity freaked out around Eda at the earliest opportunity.

There were other things that had happened during ‘Amity’s first real night’, too; Amity had spilled water over their bedroom floor, and freaked out – apologising, casting spells to try and fix it (that apparently weren’t working because of the sheer _panic_ Amity was in) and eventually just running to get a towel for the spill before it warped the floorboards. But Luz had promised Amity it was nothing, and that she’d ‘already-forgotten-about-it’ – so she wouldn’t mention it again.

“So,” Luz said to Amity the moment she got the chance – which happened to be on the trek home from school on Friday, which they’d also began sharing since Amity moved in. “Do you just not like Eda?”

Amity’s eyebrows furrowed, but her eyes remained on the path. Luz had to second guess whether Amity had heard her words, or was merely concerned with her own trail of thought. “Why would you think that?”

“Well… you get all flustered when she asks you questions.”

“I like Eda!” Amity said, looking to Luz. “I’m really grateful for her, and everything. She thinks I don’t like her?”

“I don’t know what she thinks,” Luz said with a small smile. “It’s just that _I_ thought… well…”

“Do you think she might think I don’t like her?” Amity asked, eyes frantic now. “I do! I’m so appreciative of everything she’s done for me.”

“Hey,” Luz chuckled. “I was just wondering. Because you don’t need to be nervous. Eda’s practically a grown up teenager. She’s the coolest!”

“Right,” Amity’s voice was softer, calmer. She kicked a rock in her path half-heartedly, hands clasping behind her back. “That explains why she lives in that shack.”

Something about Amity’s words seemed to hit Luz in a funny way, and she paused, mulling that feeling over. “Why do you call it a shack?” Luz asked.

Amity’s steps slowed to a halt, and her lips tugged down slightly. “What?” She asked.

“Why do you call it a ‘shack’?”

“Because…”

“It’s a house,” Luz continued, “like you saw. And you’re living there now – so don’t you think it’s sort of rude to be calling it a shack?”

“You’re right,” Amity’s words were slow, as if she were merely sounding them out. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Luz said with a nod. “Just a thought. Come on – today’s Friday!”

The walk, like the mealtimes, slowed to a silence. Luz’s brain was alight; slight guilt over calling Amity out, and thoughts of her silence, and her blush, at breakfast that morning. The image of her, asleep, breaths deep and even, hair splayed like a work of vivid art over a pillowed canvas, not enough light to appreciate her in the darkness.

If she thought too hard about it – which she _wouldn’t_ – Luz’s mind seemed to always be on Amity.

“What’s so special about a Friday?” Amity asked. She’d been kicking at the same rock for the past five minutes.

“I get to go back to the human world!” Luz announced, glad for the silence broken. “Friday night to Sunday night are my mom’s times – and then, Monday to Friday, I’m here with Eda!”

“You’re leaving?” Amity asked.

“You didn’t know?” Luz looked to Amity, falling slightly behind Luz, but still close enough she didn’t have to crane her neck. Their steps had been in unison for a while now, Luz noted, pounding a regular beat into the earth. “It must’ve slipped my mind to tell you.”

Amity’s eyes found the ground again, and she bit her lip, fingers pulling at each other anxiously. “When will you be back?” She asked.

“Sunday night – or sometimes I come back on a Monday morning. It depends.”

“Alright,” Amity was nodding, more to herself. “I can stay in the library for the weekend, then – or maybe Willow-“

“Woah, wait,” Luz said. “What are you talking about?”

Amity blinked, surprise filling her eyes. “Making other living arrangements,” she said to Luz, as if it were the most obvious thing. “You’ll be gone, and I’m not really welcome there without you, so…”

Her voice trailed off into nothing. The thuds of their steps – now disjointed, inharmonious – couldn’t quite fill the silence.

“You’re welcome,” Luz said eventually, once she’d gathered her thoughts. “You’re always welcome – with Eda and King, and Hooty, even when I’m not there. You know that, right?”

Amity’s silence was answer enough.

“Is it that you don’t feel comfortable without me there?” Luz asked. “I thought you were doing good – you and Eda sit together in the mornings, and stuff, so-“

“It’s not that.” Amity cut in. “It’s not – it isn’t their fault. I’m just… weird, I guess.” She let out a deprecating chuckle, before seeming to notice her fidgeting hands, schooling them to stillness by her sides. “And I don’t mind leaving, really! I’ll be fine for a weekend. Like you said – you’ll be back Sunday, so that’s just two nights sleep.”

“But what if you stayed?” Luz asked. “At the Owl House, with everybody. They won’t mind. Eda loves having you.”

“I could…” Amity said quietly. Her voice was timid, uncertain. Uncomfortable.

“…But you wouldn’t want to,” Luz finished off the thought. “Not yet, at least.”

Amity nodded, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m making such a scene, it must be so annoying – you’ve done so much for me already.”

“You’re not annoying, Amity.” Luz said. One of her hands reached out – clasping Amity’s in her own. Amity stopped walking, the blush disappearing in place of shock. Luz squeezed her hand, hoping that her truthfulness could be sensed through the physical touch. Amity had to understand this. “You’re not a burden, like you seem to think you are. You’re my friend; this is just what friends do.”

There was silence for a moment. Luz studied Amity’s eyes – amber in colour, and wide, golden. Amity hadn’t been wearing eyeliner since she’d stayed at the Owl House; it made her look softer.

Luz squeezed. Amity squeezed back.

“Okay,” Luz said with a breath out. “Now that _that’s_ sorted, let’s brainstorm. You don’t want to stay at the Owl House.”

It was said as a statement, but Amity shook her head in confirmation. “You can’t stay at the library,” Luz said. “No food, or water, or toilet. That’s not okay, because that’s not habitable. If you stayed there, I’d feel horrible.”

“I-“ Amity cut herself off. Her eyes dipped to where they were still holding hands, and then back up to Luz – but Luz was looking into the distance, eyebrows drawn in deep concentration.

“Wait,” Luz said, “I’ve got it! Why don’t you just come to the human world with me?”

* * *

“Eda,” Camilia greeted, voice dripping with plastered-on kindness. “How lovely to see you again.”

“Camilia,” Eda said back, eyes tight with a smile. “Trust me; the pleasure is all mine.”

“Come on, guys,” Luz said from her position behind Eda, gripping her small backpack with one hand, and holding King in a hug with the other. “We’re all friends! There’s no need to be all competitive.”

“Right,” Eda said. “I tried out that recipe book you got us. Didn’t really work.”

“I took a witch dish into work, and everybody _loved_ it. Must just be your cooking.”

“Alright,” Luz cut in again, trying to break the intense eye contact between Eda and Camilia (in vain – their passive-aggressive glares could cut through metal.) “Mom, this is Amity. She’s coming with us this week.”

Camilia blinked, looking away from Eda to fix her eyes on Amity – a couple steps behind Luz, probably smiling politely. Her eyes immediately softened behind the thick-rimmed pink glasses. “Nice to meet you, Amity.” She said genuinely. “I’m Luz’s real mom.”

“Wow,” Eda chuckled, leaning against the door frame. “Way to throw shade.”

“What?” Camilia asked. “It’s true!”

“Luz stays five days a week with me.”

“Because her school is there! She’s known me longer.”

“I teach her magic.”

“I _birthed_ her, Eda.”

“You always bring that up!”

Amity leant over to Luz. “Are they always like this?”

“Oh, yeah.” Luz said. “Every week. They’re both wildly competitive, for some reason.”

Amity laughed softly into Luz’s shoulder, and Luz felt a shock of electric current run up her spine and straight to her heart, tightening it uncomfortably. She cleared her throat, looking down at King and taking the opportunity to take a step away from Amity and her heart-squeezing powers.

“I’ll miss you, little buddy,” she said to King earnestly, placing a light kiss to his head. “Don’t get into any shenanigans without me.”

“Never!” King said. “I’d _knead_ your help.”

“You’re right! Our pranks are _butter_ when we’re together _.”_

King laughed. “Good one!”

Luz smiled at him, before putting him down. “Alright,” she said, eyes drifting forwards to Eda – who stopped leaning on the doorframe, outstretching her arms.

She seemed to sink into Eda’s hug, head nestling perfectly into her shoulder. Eda’s arms tightened around her, one rubbing at her back. “It’s just two days,” said Luz. “I’ll see you on Sunday.”

“Yeah, kid,” Eda said, squeezing tighter. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”

“I wouldn’t dare. But you can’t have fun without me, either.”

Luz pulled back, and Eda squeezed her shoulder, before pushing her slightly. “Go on,” she said. “Skedaddle. I’ll be here when you get back.”

Luz walked through, hugging her mom with just as much strength. “I missed you, mama.”

“Me too, _cariña,”_ Camilia said, placing a kiss to Luz’s forehead. “Alright. Is your friend coming?”

They both turned. Amity was standing where Luz had left her.

“You want a hug, too?” Eda asked softly.

“Not yet,” Amity said. “But… thank you.”

“Any time,” Eda said, backing away from the door slightly. “Have fun, kid.”

“Thank you,” Amity said. And then she walked through the door, too.

“Wave,” Camilia instructed, waving at Eda. Eda, from the other side of the door, waved briefly at Luz and Amity – before flashing Camilia the middle finger.

Luz snorted as her mom besides her reciprocated the gesture. “Bye, Eda!” She called.

“See you Sunday,” Eda said with one last wave. And then the door was shut.

“Alright,” Camilia said with a breath of air. “It’s lovely to meet you, Amity. I’m Camilia, Luz’s mother.”

“I’m Amity,” Amity said.

“Amity’s staying with us at the Owl House,” Luz filled in. “She really liked your cooking.”

A glint lit up Camilia’s dark eyes. “So she _did_ use that dish I gave you… interesting.” She clapped her hands. “Right! Let’s get back home; and see if we can do something about covering up your ears, Amity.”

* * *

Luz could never deny that she missed her mother’s cooking. Sitting at the table she’d grown up with, eating the familiar food…

Luz and her mother kept up a steady stream of chatter throughout dinner – catching up on their weeks, and trading stories. They ate, and laughed, and Luz felt every bit of ache she always did when she came back to the human world.

She loved it here, but… it was never really for her.

If only she could have the best of both worlds; Camilia could come and live in the Boiling Isles, and her and Eda could compete to be Luz’s best mom, and she’d wake up next to King every morning, and come downstairs to her mom’s Spanish songs, and Eda and Amity on the couch, talking. She’d go to school, and live through whatever adventure that day brought – and then be able to bring it home to share with her family.

But she also knew that wasn’t an option. As much as Luz had been able to pick up and leave, her mom had a _life_ here. Family. Friends. A job that she adored _._ Luz couldn’t ask her to leave all that behind.

Also, when had Amity joined her picture of a perfect life?

Later – after food, and a human movie that was probably very confusing to Amity, when Luz was setting up the spare room, she paused. Amity was wearing a dark green beanie that was slightly too big for her, but managed to cover her ears just fine. It kept slipping, and Amity kept pushing it up, and out of her eyes. Luz had changed into her ‘human-wear’, but Amity was still in her uniform.

“You like the human world so far?” Luz asked, taking a seat on the bed. The room was painted white, and full of white furniture – but there were plants everywhere. She’d always liked this room, because it always seemed to be so much more sophisticated than her own – but her mom had never let her take it, because Luz had an affinity for messing things up – she’d probably spill orange juice on the white pillowcase, or something.

It suited Amity. Minimalistic, and yet sharp. Formal, but still cosy. Beautiful.

“I do,” Amity said. “Your mom’s a good cook.”

“She’d like it if you told her that,” Luz said. “Her and Eda seem to be competing.”

Amity let out a chuckle that surprised Luz, and sat down besides her. “I noticed.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence – not needing to search for words, just… enjoying each other’s presence. “How did you even end up doing all of this?” Amity eventually asked. “The to-and-from with the human world and the Boiling Isles.”

“Well, it started out that I was just here for summer – but then the whole war began, and I couldn’t leave Eda’s side, so I had to tell my mom what was happening. She didn’t believe me at first, but I took her to the witch world, and she met Eda, and… I don’t know. Things just slotted into place.”

“You don’t find it hard?” Amity asked. “It must be a lot.”

“Yeah,” Luz chuckled. “It is a lot, actually.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Well…” Luz paused. “I get exhausted with school, and then over the weekends I have to devote myself to my mom, because I only see her two days a week, but during the week I have to focus on Hexside, and trying to do everything with my friends because they’d normally hang out over the weekend but I _can’t_ because I’m here, and… wow.” Luz stopped herself, surprised at the feeling that she could go on for longer. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually said that out loud. Sorry. Word vomit.”

“It’s okay,” Amity said softly. “I don’t mind.”

Luz laughed tearily – surprised that her eyes were welling up. “I can’t think about the future, either,” Luz admitted, one hand coming up to rub at her eye before the tear fell. It left her palm slightly wet. “Because once school is over, well, I’ll have no human qualifications – and will they even allow a human to get a witch-job? My magic is already questionable. But then if I can’t have a life in the human world _or_ the witch world, I’m done. So I just… try not to think about it.”

“It’s easier to be distracted,” Amity said. “I get it.”

“Sorry,” Luz sniffled, “for dumping all of this on you. You must be going through so much, and I’m busy complaining about _my_ life.”

“Hey,” Amity said. She took Luz’s hand, much like Luz had done with Amity earlier – and Luz was surprised at the clarity the simple touch brought her. “You can always talk to me. I’ll always listen. We’re… friends. Friends listen to each other.”

She spared a moment to look at Amity. The beanie was almost comical, making her seem taller and drooping slightly at the back. It hid her quiff, and her brown roots – so that only the lighter green stuck out. “We are friends,” Luz said. “And – I know you don’t want to right now, and that’s _fine,_ but whenever you’re comfortable… talking about whatever you went through. I’m here.”

“Who says I went through anything?” Amity’s voice turned slightly defensive.

“You showed up at the Owl House in the pouring rain, looking like death – and you already told me your family sucks. But I don’t care – I’ll always be here.”

“I know,” Amity said, squeezing Luz’s hand. Luz squeezed back.

Her eyes drifted past Amity, to the window at the top of the bed. “Wow,” Luz said, wiping her free hand under one eye to catch any stray tears that may or may not have fallen. “It’s raining.”

“It is?” Amity asked, turning her head suddenly, hand ripping out of Luz’s. Panic was laced through her tone, and sewn into her tense muscles. “But – you can’t create a forcefield in this world, and I’m not powerful enough for your _whole_ house-“

“It’s a different type of rain,” Luz said, placing her hand on Amity’s shoulder blade. “Ours isn’t acidic. It’s… kind of nice, actually. Want to see?”

Luz stood, outstretching her hand to Amity. Amity looked at Luz, and then at her hand.

“If it kills me,” she said, taking Luz’s hand, “it’ll be your fault.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> out of our 2 main characters, i'll bet you weren't expecting luz to be the first to 'talk about her feelings'
> 
> also, this fic has officially been hijacked by camilia/eda intense rivalry enemies to lovers. im sorry, i don't make the rules
> 
> thank you so much for reading!!! don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment <3333


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> physically i am here but mentally i am on chapter 12. always.
> 
> also, who was going to tell me i needed to simp for camilia's va??? i simped for her voice, but then did some googling, and hot damn???
> 
> hope you enjoy!!!

“It’s so cold,” were the first words to come out of Amity’s mouth as they stepped into the rain, in Luz’s back garden. Luz had been coaxing her with every step, reassurances falling like petals past her lips.

“Well, yeah,” Luz said, taking several confident steps and having to squint her eyes in protection from the thick droplets of rain. Her arms outstretched besides her, and she twirled, feeling suddenly playful. “It’s not boiling, like your rain!”

Amity remained silent, watching as Luz slowed her spinning, arms coming awkwardly to her sides as if to trap in her heat. “Are you coming?” Luz asked.

“It doesn’t look very pleasant.”

“It is, though!” Luz outstretched her hand to Amity. “You’re not curious?”

Amity looked at Luz’s hand and then groaned – taking it. Luz’s hand was slippery from the rain, but Amity’s was warm, and dry. She let out a squeal as she stepped into the downpour, other hand somehow finding Luz’s. Amity’s eyes were squinted almost shut, and the drops were quickly wetting her hair, letting small strands of it curl up to her cheeks. “Oh my god,” Amity said.

“You like it?”

“I don’t know. Yes?”

Luz grinned, squeezing Amity’s hands, before she tugged. “You don’t have puddles in the Boiling Isles, do you?”

Before long, they were running – Luz had to let go of one of Amity’s hands, but the other was gripped solidly despite the rainwater. Amity was laughing joyfully, keeping up with Luz’s antics perfectly. Luz spotted what she was looking for – a dip in the landscape, where water had begun to accumulate.

“Alright,” Luz said, slowing slightly. “We’re about to get wetter, but… well, we’re soaked already.”

“What?” Amity asked. But Luz had already let go of her hand – and jumped in.

Amity gasped as she was splashed from the waist down with slightly murky water, instincts pushing her to jump backwards even though it was too late. “What the hell?” Amity asked, shivering slightly, and crossing her arms over herself to keep the warmth in.

“Sorry,” Luz grinned, stepping out of the puddle. “If it makes you feel better, my shoes are _soaked.”_

“What is that?” Amity asked. “Why does the water collect like that?”

Luz looked to Amity – and instead of the anger she’d expected, annoyance, maybe – there was a childlike wonder in her eyes. “It just does that,” Luz said. “When the ground’s uneven.”

“Why do you jump in it?”

“Because it’s fun,” Luz chuckled. “Come on. Try it out.”

Amity gave her a disbelieving glance, and Luz backed away, gesturing for Amity to go. She watched as Amity eyed the puddle for a while – and then jumped.

There was silence, for a moment. The air was cold, and humid, and the beating rain provided a comfortable hum against the earth. And then Amity started laughing.

“It is pretty fun,” she said. “The human world is awesome.”

Amity jumped again, sending water spraying around her. “It’s so cold,” she observed with awe.

“You don’t like it?”

“I do,” Amity said. She stepped out of the puddle cautiously, gracefully – looking down to her soaked trousers. “It’s just weird.”

“It is pretty cool,” Luz said. “I mean the science! The water cycle is so interesting – and that isn’t even including lightning…”

Luz trailed off, like she always did when she realized she’d gone on a tangent. Most people didn’t like to listen – Luz was never regarded as a particularly smart person, because whilst she was able to fixate on some parts of science, the other parts (the parts that bored her) seemed to never stick; fading from her brain the moment she got out of class.

But Amity was silent – eyes closed, chin tilted up all the way to the sky, so that the raindrops were hitting her cheeks. Luz could only look for a moment; at the way her milky skin seemed to glow almost a perfect white, with the light of the grey clouds. Her jaw was sharp, dangerous – connecting to the soft skin of her neck, where the water disappeared under the hem of her top. Her head tilted Luz’s way slightly, eyes opening a slit. The warmth of her eyes, glowing amber, was a shock to Luz’s system. “Tell me about the water cycle,” Amity said. “I like listening to your voice.”

Luz was floored – Amity’s voice, and her eyes, and her… “Okay,” she said, feeling a heat that was deeply unnatural with the cool of the rain. “The water cycle.”

Amity’s eyes slid shut comfortably again, and she tilted her head back up to the skies. Her face was flawless – no sign of worry on her features. Amity looked every part a sixteen-year-old, with the curve of her nose, and her chin, illuminated against a backdrop of trees. Luz began talking – eventually finding her footing, and diving into another of her interests. But her eyes never left Amity – her jaw, and her chin, and her cheeks.

Amity was… gorgeous, wow. Luz had noticed it before, but – damn. She’d never noticed it like _this._ And she was so excited to share the human world with her.

* * *

As always, Luz woke up later than the sun. Her head was foggy with sleep and memories, of the day before. Stretching her arms over her head was a task within itself; and, once she was done, she was conscious enough to hear her mom’s latin music, and her gentle humming over the top.

Standing was even worse – but Luz took her time, feeling the cold of her wooden bedroom floor against her feet. Her pyjamas were lopsided, one side slipping off her shoulder, but that was normal. Luz was a messy sleeper.

She wiped her cheeks for any leftover drool, and once again, combed her hair. If Amity was downstairs – would she be downstairs? – Luz wanted to look nice.

There was always an achey sort of familiarity that came with the weekends Luz was home – the wandering down the stairs like she’d done as a child, at Christmas, or walking the halls of the first floor as if she’d just had a nightmare. The memories weren’t unwelcome; Luz cherished them, really. But every new one she got, every returned sensation, reminded her that this wasn’t her forever home, anymore.

Camilia was over the stove, making an omelette, still humming gently to herself. “Morning, mom,” Luz said, rubbing at one of her eyes. This song wasn’t one she recognised – her mom must’ve added to the playlist since last week.

She turned, abandoning the stove for a minute to give Luz a hug. “ _Buenos días, cariña_ _.”_ She said into the top of Luz’s head, placing a kiss there. _“¿_ _Dormiste bien anoche?”_

 _“Sí, mama,”_ Luz said, as Camilia pulled away, to look at the omelette. _“?es eso una tortilla?”_

 _“Sí. Para usted y Amity.”_ Camilia flipped it, before sparing Luz another glance. “Is she awake?”

“She hasn’t come down yet?” Luz asked. “She’s usually up so early when we’re at the Owl House.”

“Hmm.” Camilia said. “She will wake later. Maybe you can wake her up, for breakfast?”

Luz nodded, and her mom returned to her gentle humming. Amity was an early riser; or at least, had been back at the Boiling Isles. But maybe it was just the waking up _besides Luz_ that she had a problem with, which was why she went down to Eda.

She wandered off, because today was a free day – she could really do whatever she wanted – and ended up on the couch, flicking through TV channels. One of the things Luz hadn’t missed when she transferred to the Boiling Isles was a TV; she’d had the DVD player, and all her favourites, on hand, and if she _really_ missed it, she’d just wait until the weekend. But whenever she returned to the human world, it once again became a mindless hobby to fall back on.

The stairs behind her creaked, and Luz turned. There stood Amity, already dressed and clean, wringing her hands in front of her. “I heard voices,” Amity said, by way of a greeting.

“Good morning!” Luz greeted, pushing thoughts of _Amity-doesn’t-feel-comfortable-waking-up-next-to-me_ away, because they were ridiculous and none of her business. “I hope you’re hungry. My mom’s making omelettes!”

* * *

One omelette, and one very troubled recantation of what an egg was, later, the three were seated at a table. Amity, once again had been silent – Luz had sort of come to expect this from her – but after she’d finished eating anything she could choke on, Camilia had turned the focus, kindly, to Amity.

“I know Luz takes them all,” Camilia was saying, “but you specialise in one?”

“Yeah,” Amity said. “I do abomination magic.”

“Abomination?” Camilia’s eyebrows furrowed, and she turned to Luz for an explanation.

 _“La abominación es un poco como un monstruo, mamá.”_ Luz explained.

“Oh, right,” Camilia said, redirecting her smile back to Amity. “That must be hard work, no?”

“Yeah,” Amity said with a bout of awkward laughter. Her hands were under the table – Luz was half-sure they were wringing about, anxiously. “It is.”

Camilia waited another second, nodding encouragingly, before realizing she wouldn’t get any more of that answer. “And how did you meet Luz?”

Amity’s mouth opened – her eyes diverted to Luz – but no words came out. Luz could only watch, as Amity realized she wasn’t saying anything, and her cheeks began to darken, amber eyes taking on a shimmery gloss.

“At school,” Luz jumped in. “She’s Willow’s friend.”

“I know Willow!” Camilia said with a smile, not commenting on Amity’s choke up. Amity was looking down at her empty plate, feet kicking under the table, brushing against the side of Luz’s chair. “She is a lovely girl.”

“Yeah!” Luz said, smiling. “Amity – I don’t think the Boiling Isles has hospitals, but my mom’s a nurse. That means she heals people without magic.”

“Oh, cool!” Amity said, obviously trying to scrounge up some form of enthusiasm, but falling a little short.

“You have healing magic?” Camilia asked Amity.

“Oh, no,” she said, the red curling all the way up to her ears now. “I’m only an abomination witch.”

“I’m the only one that studies all of them,” Luz said, trying to help. “Like I said; I made it up! Well, with the help from my detention-track friends, of course.”

Camilia nodded. “And why did you pick abomination?”

“Because it’s her best subject,” Luz jumped in. Amity’s head was still dropped, and her ears were very visibly drooping; she figured she could help. “Amity’s _really_ good at abominations – this one time, we had a duel at the-“

“Luz, _mi querida_ _,_ Amity has a voice. Please let her use it.”

Luz immediately quietened – her mother’s tone had been without bite, and Luz knew she had a bit of a problem with interrupting people. But this time… she thought Amity…

Amity’s eyes were wide with shock. “It’s okay!” She said hurriedly. “I don’t mind it! Luz did nothing wrong.”

“Yes,” Camilia started, “But I want to hear _your_ voice, _conejita.”_

“O-okay,” Amity said. She cleared her throat. “Um… I… we did have duel, me and Luz. And I’m top of my abominations class.”

“She has been for three years running,” Luz piped in, miming a zipping motion to her mouth when her mother looked over.

“Very impressive!” Camilia said, smiling warmly at Amity. “You must be very smart.”

“Oh – thank you, uh. Ma’am.” Amity said.

Amity’s eyes flickered to Luz, as if she were searching for some validation in her friend. Luz smiled – trying to convey all her _you did good_ vibes into one look.

She wasn’t sure if her exact message got across, but the tension in Amity’s shoulders subsided a little, and Luz thought that was good enough.

* * *

Luz and Amity spent the day exploring. Amity donned the too-large beanie for her ears, and wore pointedly not very human looking clothes (Luz offered her own, but Amity was pretty set on wearing her weird witch-fashions.) Firstly, they went to Luz’s favourite hangout spot, a park – which apparently was very weird.

(“You don’t have parks in the Boiling Isles?”

“Well, yeah, we do… but not for _children!”_

“What else would a park be for?”)

Then they watched a movie – Luz had given Amity the choice between a romance and a horror, and Amity had been so opposed to watching the romance that they’d walked into the horror movie with one large popcorn and far too little doubt. By the end, the popcorn was everywhere but their stomachs – and both girls were far too shaken to walk for a couple of minutes.

They walked home, Luz gripping Amity’s arm to steady her still-shaken legs, half-giggling about how ridiculous the two of them were, screaming at some low-budget movie because she’d become desensitized to the genre, half trying to correctly navigate Amity in the right direction. It hadn’t rained, but it had gotten significantly colder, and Luz was really contemplating stealing the beanie straight off Amity’s head, if only to keep out the bite of the cold wind on her ears.

“That’s the coffee shop I wanted to work at,” Luz pointed out on their walk. “It’s really cute inside; books as decoration, that you can buy. It’s where I got my Azura book.”

“It’s pretty,” said Amity. “Can we go inside?”

“Well it’s closed right now, silly,” Luz chuckled. “But we can definitely come back the next time we’re in the human world. Maybe you can buy a book?”

“I’d like that,” Amity said honestly. And suddenly Luz’s hands were burning where they made contact with Amity’s arm, and she was acutely aware of every part of her pressed to her friend. She did that a lot – Amity said something cute, and Luz was reminded that her friend was _really_ pretty.

She pushed it aside. “I’d like it, too! And hey, maybe I can buy you a super overpriced coffee.”

“Overpriced?”

“Yeah – they charge, lile, $5 for a small cup in there. It’s good stuff! Just… don’t really want to break the bank, you know?”

“…What’s a ‘bank’?”

* * *

Sunday comes, and passes – and all too soon, Luz is hugging her mom goodbye.

“I’ll miss you, _mija_ ,” Camilia says into her hair, placing a tender kiss to the crown of her head. Camilia’s hugs are different to Eda’s – not necessarily nicer, but… warmer, more familiar. Luz gets lost in it, in the familiar hospital-mixed-with-a-flowery-perfume scent that her mother has always seemed to carry.

“I’ll see your Friday,” Luz says instead of a goodbye, pulling back. She looks her mom up and down – and reaches in one final time, squeezing.

She tries not to notice that her mom’s voice is tighter than it was earlier when Camilia says, “pass that dish on to Eda, alright?”

“I will.” Luz promises. “Friday.”

Camilia turns to Amity. “It was lovely meeting you,” she says, outstretching her hand.

“You too,” Amity says, giving it a firm shake. “Thank you for having me.”

“It was all my pleasure. Will I be seeing you next week?”

Amity looked to Luz for a moment. “Yeah,” she said. “I hope so.”

The door opened, and Eda waved at them from the other side. “Camilia,” Eda said, hand dropping. “Lovely to see you.”

“The girls had a great time,” Camilia said, that familiar passive-aggressive smile gracing her lips. “Take care of them.”

“Oh, I will,” Eda said. “I happen to be a _very_ good mother figure.”

“Me, too!” Camilia let out a stark laugh. “Isn’t that such a coincidence?”

“Mom,” Luz said with an eye-roll. “I’ll see you. Be careful at work.”

“Be careful with your magic,” her mom said back. “I don’t want you to come back next week missing a limb.”

“I would never let that happen!” Eda called. Camilia’s eye roll was far more over-the-top than it needed to be, but she still pulled Luz into another hug – squeezing tight.

Eventually, they had to pull away – and Camilia smiled warmly at the two girls. “Bye now!” She says, waving. “See you both next Friday!”

Luz disappeared through the door first, hugging Eda tightly (and being secretly happy when Eda squeezed back). Amity was through a second later, and the door closed.

“I missed you,” Eda said. “You bring me anything?”

“My mom made something, actually,” Luz said. “Food. In my bag. And Amity and I bought you a new DVD – I think you’ll like it. It’s called _The Exorcist.”_

“Ooh, creepy,” Eda said. “Welcome home, you two.”

Luz grinned. “Where’s King?”

“Right here!” King called, coming into the room. “I was going to make you a surprise cake, but we were all out of magic mixture – so I thought I would just scare you!”

“I’m terrified, King! Good job.” Luz laughed. “I missed you, you cutie little munchkin.”

“I am _not_ cute!” King said. “I am scary! I’m the King of all demons!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Luz let out a surprisingly long yawn. “We should probably unpack, before we’re too tired. Amity, you coming?”

“Yeah,” Amity said quietly.

Luz lead the way up the stairs, and into their bedroom (huh, she’d started calling it ‘their.’) After dumping her bag to the side, Luz collapsed face-first into her bed, letting out a groan.

“I missed this pillow,” she said, arms coming up to hug it slightly. Amity dropped her bag at the end of her bed, perching on the mattress and watching Luz. Luz adjusted her head, so she could look back at Amity. “What?” Luz asked, quieter and more genuine with curiosity.

Amity shook her head. “Your family is just so… different,” she said. “I never know what to expect.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Luz rolled over slightly.

“No,” Amity said after a while. “It’s nice. It’ll take a while to get used to, but… it’s nice.”

Luz nodded. “We really like having you, Amity,” she said honestly. Amity’s ears went pink, and her eyes dropped to the floor adorably.

“I like it here, too,” she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i read this post about how people were mad (not my fic specific) that when amity runs away, emira and edric aren't with her - and i would kindly like to hint that i work very hard on the symbolism of this fic, and everything happens for a reason!! with that vague-ness out of the way, don't forget to please leave me a gorgeous book review of a comment so i can die happily <3
> 
> thank you so much for reading!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry this one's late - i hope you can enjoy some key character's appearances, as a substitute

On Monday morning, the grass was dry, and burnt – a sure sign that, sometime in Luz’s sleep, the acid-rain of the Boiling Isles had attacked. She’d been lulled to sleep early by Amity’s assurances replaying in her head, and had woken later than her roommate (roommate? Luz much preferred contemplating over what exactly Amity was to her, then the issue of was-Amity-really-not-comfortable-sharing-a-room, or-was-Luz-just-projecting?) Heading downstairs, she’d once again heard voices.

“And then she _refused_ to bow to me!” King was saying in an outraged tone. “Isn’t that so rude?”

“Keep going,” Eda said with a laugh. “Amity wants to hear your squeak of rage.”

Luz padded down the stairs, turning a corner into the living room, rubbing at one of her eyes. Nobody seemed to notice her presence – the couch was faced away from her, ruling out Eda and Amity, and King was just about a foot tall, and so caught up in his story, he probably wasn’t even looking.

“At least she didn’t pick me up,” King growled. “I am not your ‘little guy.’ I am the King of Demons!”

Amity nodded fervently, and Luz couldn’t hold back a small laugh.

Eda’s head was the first to turn. “Ah,” she said. “Luz is up.”

“Good morning, everyone!” Luz greeted, unable to stop a grin from coming to her lips. Amity and King were turning, too – offering silent greetings of their own. “Now that I’m awake – we can leave for school!”

“Nuh-uh,” Eda held up a protesting hand. “Not without breakfast. I’m _not_ letting Camilia out-do me on this one.”

“Um, don’t you mean you love us so much and don’t want us to go to school hungry?”

Eda stood, cracking her back kind of unnaturally, but managing to stand back up (Luz had been _horrified_ the first time this had happened… but then again, Eda had been decapitated before.) “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Give me five minutes.”

“Good morning Amity,” Luz said, grinning as the witch turned to face her. Amity offered Luz her own small smile in return – a hand coming up to wave.

“Hey! What about me? What about our comedy hour?”

Eda’s groan was audible from the next door, as Luz’s eyes landed on King. “Aww,” she said, face turning into a familiar pout, arms coming out as if to squeeze King up in the kind of hugs she’d given him when they first met. “Does someone miss me?”

“No!” King said. “I just appreciate our combined humour!”

“Comedy… hour?” Asked Amity, looking from Luz to King.

“Yeah,” said Luz, coming round and sitting on the part of the couch Eda had just vacated. “Me and King used to do a comedy hour in the mornings; drove Eda _nuts.”_

“You don’t anymore?” Amity asked.

“Well…” Luz looked to King. “We do _sometimes,”_ she said. “Not as often, I suppose.”

“My duties to the demon realm took priority!” King said. “And Luz wanted to learn.”

Amity was nodding. For a moment, Luz looked at her – to King again, and then back. Amity had seemed… curious. She’d initiated a conversation.

“Alright, food’s almost ready! Luz and Amity, go get dressed.” Eda called from the kitchen. “And no funny ideas about the return of comedy hour!”

* * *

The walk to school was short, and not as bright as Luz liked it. Plants in the Boiling Isles regrew fast, and she knew by the end of the day the ground would be a sea of vivid colour; but staring at the shrivelled yellow put a weird pit in her stomach.

They didn’t talk much on that walk – Amity’s previously-found confidence having dissipated into the cool air. They walked, and kept to themselves. Luz couldn’t help wondering what Amity could be thinking about.

And then they’d arrived at school, and split up. For a while, at least.

Luz was in her Beast Keeping class in the gym, when she spotted Amity by the door. She was pacing, wide-eyed and frantic, with tension delicately sewn into the muscles all the way up her back and through her shoulders. She looked… just about ready to explode.

And then she’d seen Luz, looking her way, and stormed into the classroom. Nobody was really paying attention to Luz (other than a few mishaps at the start of the year, she tended to do pretty well with animals), so Amity was able to take her hand, and drag her out.

“What?” Luz asked, all traces of humour that’d usually be in her voice gone. Amity was scared, and holding her hand.

“It’s my parents,” Amity said, gulping. “They’re in the office – looking for me. I spotted them a couple minutes ago. If they find me, Luz, I-“

“Hey,” Luz said, her free hand reaching up to cup Amity’s cheek – an attempt to focus her thoughts. Luz’s hands were cold, so it must’ve been a little harsher than she would’ve liked, but it worked. “We’ll fix this,” she said to Amity. “Just breathe with me, okay?”

Luz took a deep breath, eyes concentrating on Amity’s own gold-flecked ones, murmuring a “good,” as Amity mimicked the inhale. “And out,” Luz said, exhaling slowly. They repeated the breath a couple times, Luz’s hand still on Amity’s cheek – the other, squeezing her hand and hoping that it conveyed as much comfort as she meant it to. “Okay. If we leave, they might be watching the entrance. So, we hide.”

“Where?” Amity asked. “My parents are donors to this school – they know the classrooms inside-out.”

A ping seemed to go off in Luz’s brain, and she let her hand drop from Amity’s cheek. “I have an idea,” she said, a grin growing. “What if we _don’t_ hide in a classroom?”

* * *

“This is insane,” Amity informed Luz for the fifth time as Luz drew the chalk square, opening up a magical doorway. “How do you even know about this place?”

“Reasons,” Luz shrugged. “Now come on – I don’t know how much time we have.”

They crawled through the doorway, and into the shortcuts room Viney had shown her all that time ago. The girl in question was sitting just to the side, a book in hand – guarding the entrance. “Oh, hey,” she said as Luz crawled un-gracefully out, landing on her back. Amity followed, somehow ending up on her feet.

“Hey, Viney!” Luz said. “Where’s the vent that lets you hear into Principal Bump’s office?”

Viney pointed with one hand. “Thanks,” Luz said. “I miss you, by the way – we should totally hang out some time.”

Viney looked up at that, smiling. “Sure. Hey – Amity, right?”

Amity paled at the recognition. “Yeah,” she said. “Viney?”

Viney nodded. “How’s your sister?”

“Oh, Emira?” Amity laughed nervously. “She’s… doing good. Liking her trek, and all that.”

Viney nodded, returning to her book. “Can’t believe she graduated _before_ me,” Viney mumbled. “Does she still have penstagram?”

“Oh, sure,” Amity said. “But – I think her group went up to the Malevolent Mountains? You don’t really get any service up there, with… all that snow.”

“Cool, cool,” Viney said. “Off you two go, then.”

Luz re-took Amity’s hand, leading their way through the hallway and into the vast room of shortcuts. “Woah,” Amity said, head tilted upwards. “This place is _amazing.”_

“I know, right?” Luz giggled. “I discovered it way back when I just joined Hexside, in the detention track, but now I only use it when I’m late for class.”

Amity turned to Luz, a look of solemnity cementing her features. “Where’s that vent?” She asked.

“Right, right,” Luz said. “Um – I’m pretty sure it’s that one?”

They wandered over, Amity dropping Luz’s hand (subconsciously, she hoped) and peering into the vent. Amity sucked in a breath at the sight.

“What?” Luz asked, peering in besides Amity.

Mr and Mrs Blight stood on one side of Principal Bump’s desk. Mr Blight was further back than his wife, arms crossed and expression somewhat stern, but in no way intimidating. It was Mrs Blight that gave her the shivers – with a mockingly sweet smile, and her hands delicately placed on Principal Bump’s desk, fingernails digging into the wood like talons. They were having a conversation – every word out of Mrs Blight’s mouth dripped with a saccharine poison, level and yet terrifying. Principal Bump was sweating.

Luz looked over to Amity – to her hands that had curled into fists in the fabric of her uniform. “Hey,” Luz whispered – anything louder felt forbidden, almost. “It’ll be okay.”

Amity’s fists loosened. Luz turned back to the vent.

“-so I don’t see why we can’t just visit her in class, you see?” Mrs Blight was saying. “We do _so much_ for this school, and I’d personally like a little repayment.”

“It’s – it’s against protocol,” Bump stuttered out. “We couldn’t let you go in even if I wanted to.”

“But I just think there’s always an exception to the rules,” her claws dug into the desk, and a piece of the wood splintered upwards. Bump flinched. “And we’d be the first to make use of that exception, right?”

“Of course,” Bump said. The splinter deepened.

“Honey-“ Mr Blight went to say, a hand coming out to reach for her shoulder. Mrs Blight was upright in an instant, one hand that had previously been dug halfway into the desk, now holding her husband’s wrist.

“I’m taking care of things, sweetheart.” She said; the words giving Luz chills. “Be a pet and stay out of it?”

Luz didn’t know what she was expecting to happen – but Mrs Blight let go of his wrist, and he retreated into his defensive position.

“Now,” Mrs Blight flicked a piece of hair over her shoulder. “Where were we?”

“I – I could call her on the intercom,” Bump suggested. “That’s allowed.”

“And alert her to our presence?” She let out a cold, empty laugh. “How on earth do you think that’ll work?”

“I could just not mention you?” Bump suggested. “Gifted students get called up here all the time.”

Mrs Blight spared a glance to her husband that seemed more symbolic than anything. “Very well,” she said dismissively, dipping into one of the chairs that had presumably been pushed aside when they came into the office. Mrs Blight inspected her nails as if the digging-into-the-desk had been a mere inconvenience that scratched some polish off. “Call her in, then.”

Principal Bump took a second to understand the words – shocked, perhaps, at the first non-threatening words out of her mouth. He cleared his throat, and pressed his finger to the intercom. “Amity Blight to Principal Bump’s office,” he said, voice a little too croaky. The words echoed from his mouth, to overhead on the speakers. Amity, besides her, was pale. Bump repeated the message.

“Hey,” Luz said. “It’s fine. We’re safe here – and we can escape.”

Amity nodded, but the words didn’t seem to have set in – she was still pale, and shaking slightly. Luz expected her to collapse on her feet, so she guided her down to the floor outside the vent. “I’m here,” Luz said, “and so is a large amount of the student body, if we ask. They won’t get to you.”

Amity was shaking her head now. “You don’t know the power my parents have,” she said, letting out a long sigh. Her head tilted back, hitting the wall they were pressed against with a dull thud. “I should have known. I should have never run away.”

“Hey,” Luz placed her hand on Amity’s arm. “We’ll figure out a way to get past this, okay?”

“And now I’ve dragged you and Eda into this; they’ll ruin Eda’s potions career. They’ll have her arrested, and you expelled. And it’s all my fault.”

“Woah, woah,” Luz said. “It’s been two weeks. They can’t get Eda fired for taking care of you!”

“They’ll think she’s had me for two months,” Amity said, turning to her. The hopelessness in amidst the gold was a deep pit; one that Luz couldn’t even hope to quell. “That’s how long I’ve been missing.”

“But – you came to the Owl House two weeks ago.”

Amity shrugged. “I was staying in the library – using the public bathroom, and the school showers. But one night – the night I came to you – they showed up at the library, from some tip they’d gotten from Ed or something. They were so close to finding me, so I ran.”

“Two months.” Luz said, after a moment of quiet. Mrs Blight’s voice was a muted hum of threat from the other side of the vent. “And they’re just now showing up at the school?”

“They don’t like handling things publicly. I expect this is very hard for my mother,” Amity scoffed at that, arms coming up to cross over her chest. Her head dipped, and she drew her knees up so she could look straight at them. “But it’s over now. They’ve got me.”

“No, they haven’t,” Viney said. Luz looked up to see the girl standing in front of them, lips quirked as if she knew something they didn’t (and Luz wouldn’t put it past the girl – Viney seemed to know everything.) “Sorry; I was listening, I couldn’t help it. But there’s no way we’re letting your family get you, kid. Come on.”

Luz stood almost without hesitation, but Amity’s movements were slower, more calculated, cautious. “What are we doing?” She asked Viney, although her eyes were on Luz.

“There’s a door, up there – leads straight out the back of the school, by the grudgby court. You get past that, and you’re free.” Viney pointed upwards, to one of the many slanted doors that ran all the way up and down the walls. “I’m pretty sure we could cause a distraction.”

“We?” Luz asked.

“Oh, yeah – you bet Jerbo and Barcus will want to help with this.”

“Okay,” Luz took a breath, looking up. The stairs were uneven, and tended to move when you put pressure on them (which wise-nut enchanted that feature?). An adventure, then. She’d be going on an adventure. And, Luz supposed, she couldn’t really complain – she had wanted one.

They took the stairs cautiously, but hastily, and in single file. Luz was in front – and for logical reasons, she knew Amity was behind her, and turning back to check would cut her concentration, and waste her time – but she couldn’t help the glances she spared every time they rounded a bend, and a glance could be passed off somewhat. This was an adventure. Luz was a knight from a city unknown, all muscular and smart and handsome - and Amity was the damsel in distress she had to get to safety.

Eventually, they reached the door – double checking it was actually the door with a glance down to Viney, who gave a large thumbs-up before disappearing through a shortcut of her own. “Alright,” Luz said, looking back to Amity. “We’re halfway there. When we open that door, we make a run for it.”

“Amity Blight to the Principal’s office,” came Bump’s words over the intercom. There was a notable line of irritation in his voice, now – cutting through the previous calm. He repeated the message, and the intercom went silent.

Amity spared a glance at Luz – before grabbing the door, and pushing it open.

* * *

“So,” Luz gulped in a breath, “that’s why,” her hands fell to her knees as she hunched over, “you didn’t want to go to school?”

“Yeah,” Amity said, in the same winded state as Luz was. She was flushed slightly, chest heaving with deep gulps of air.

“That makes sense,” Luz said. “You’re not the type to skip.”

“I thought,” Amity swallowed, “they were close to finding me.”

Luz spared herself a few moments to regain her breath, before she straightened up. “Alright,” she said. “You probably don’t want to talk about it with me yet – which is fine, I’ll be here whenever you’re ready – but we should get a system in place where we can escape like that if they ever show up again.”

“Yeah?” Amity asked.

“I mean, do you think they’ll show up at the school again?”

“Oh, definitely.”

“Alright,” Luz said. “Then we build a support system, and figure out how to get you out of there each time. And I know _exactly_ who to ask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha, don't you just love leaving important context in throwaway lines?
> 
> thank you all for reading!!
> 
> also, i feel this would be a decent time to mention i have a [tumblr](https://peterparkerpanic.tumblr.com/)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm always down to eat the rich."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello darlings; two things
> 
> firstly, for some context, when I refer to a 'trek' (this & last chapter), i mean a 'gap-year' thing you can do in the demon realm where you go around the world with your future coven and gather 'experience' (most of the coven's treks are open to all, but the Emperor's year-long ones are usually reserved for the semi-rich kids who are sure to get into said coven... like Emira.)
> 
> and secondly, this chapter is a little shorter, and i'm sorry! please accept this in apology: <3

“Okay,” Luz took a breath. “So, as you all know, I gathered you all here today.”

Nods circulated the living room of the Owl House. Five figures sat on the floor, in some vague recollection of a circle. Gus and Willow had been conversing, and Boscha had been doing something on her scroll. Viney had just walked in, and was taking a seat in between the fireplace and the couch. Nobody spoke.

“I’s for a pretty important reason, actually.” Luz continued. “It’s for Amity.”

“Woah,” Amity said as five pairs of eyes suddenly moved onto her. “You said you’d talk. Don’t put this on me.”

“Right, right!” Luz said, chuckling awkwardly. “I just forgot how much I hate public speaking. Anyway! We’re here… because…”

“Just spit it out,” Boscha said from her seat leaning against the fireplace. “We haven’t got all day.”

“Yes. Okay. So…” Luz gulped.

“My parents are dickwads,” Amity cut in. Luz shot her a half-confused look.

Willow, Viney and Boscha all seemed to snort in tandem. “No shit,” Boscha said. “And what about it?”

“Well, she’s not staying at the Blight Manor right now, which pisses them off – I’d say understandably, but it really isn’t – so I guess my point is we’re asking for your help.” Luz took over again, after a moment of silence to ensure Amity didn’t want to answer the question herself.

Once again, Luz was met with silence. “Help with what?” Gus prompted.

“Oh. Right.” Luz felt like smacking herself – and she was sure Amity felt like hitting her, too. “Sorry. Help with escaping them.”

“Forever?” Viney asked.

“Maybe?” Luz looked to her left, where Amity was curled back up in that quilted blanket she’d practically adopted, back against the couch. “But right now, it’s just for when they try and kidnap her to imprison her back at the Blight Manor. You know, like they did yesterday.”

Amity sighed. “Basically,” she began, “I’m asking for your help whenever they show up at the school, to create some kind of diversion.”

“And collect her homework,” Luz added – and then, “what? Your studies are important, too.”

“So… like a secret mission?” Gus asked. “I’m always down to eat the rich.”

“Hold on,” Viney said. “I was gonna agree – but we’re _eating_ them?”

“No, don’t worry,” Luz said, reaching out to Gus to receive a high five. “It’s a human phrase. No eating will be happening – only very intense resentment.”

“We’ll set traps, right?” Willow asked. “To get Amity out.”

“Exactly,” Luz grinned. “But before you agree, we know it’s a lot to ask. So, if you’re not up for sort of breaking the law, you can leave now.”

Luz looked around the room. Nobody moved. “Sweet,” she said after a moment. “Let’s kick some Blight ass, then.”

Amity shook her head, leaning into Luz. “You’re so dramatic, you know that?” She mumbled, hot air hitting the bare skin of Luz’s neck in just the right – _wrong –_ way. “All that speech for nothing.”

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me?” Luz muttered back. “I got a whole gang together.”

Amity hummed, leaning back into her space, an almost-smile on her lips. “Anyway,” Luz said. “Business time. The Blights know the school inside out, because they helped build the place. So the diversion will have to be pretty big. For now, we could keep using the secret tunnel Viney showed us,” Luz gestured vaguely with her hands, and several heads turned to Viney, who they hadn’t met yet. Viney lifted a hand and offered a wave of greeting that, on absolutely anybody else, would’ve come off as dorky. “Except, I’m thinking maybe we should save that as a last resort?”

“That makes sense,” said Gus, nodding sagely. “So I’m thinking illusion magic.”

“Illusion magic is the easiest to break, though.” Willow said. “What if we use plants to block entire corridors?”

“Or we could avoid the breaking of public property and just set a couple of beasts loose?” Viney suggested. “That worked pretty well last time.”

“Amity could always switch schools,” Boscha offered. “That’s an easy way to avoid that problem.”

“You need parents to file the paperwork for it,” Amity said. “And even if I could fake that, Belos would never let me.”

Boscha nodded. “Okay. Why are we insisting school is mandatory, though?”

“Without it, she’ll never get the chance to escape!” Luz said. “Without school, there’s no opportunities. She can’t even go on a trek!”

“School isn’t everything,” Boscha said. “I mean, you could just move away, right? They’d never disinherit you – too much public drama.”

“I have no money, though.” Amity said. “And I’d need to finish school to get some.”

Boscha leant back, nodding. “Alright. Never mind, then. Next option.”

“I still think the beast idea is good?” Viney offered. “I mean, it’s worked before.”

“Right,” Luz nodded. “So, if we’re thinking beasts… how do we leave?”

“Out the front door?” Willow offered. “Let’s just block Amity’s parents off from her.”

“Why don’t we use the tunnel under the gym?” Gus offered. “I mean, now that the Grom is gone, it’s free.”

“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Boscha said. “Nice one.”

“Uh, thanks.” Gus nodded at Boscha. Boscha nodded back.

“Perfect!” Luz clapped her hands, turning to Amity. “So we release the beasts from the gym, and then run into the gym – the exact _opposite_ of where they’d expect. That sounds great.”

“And we can leave that way?” Amity asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Gus said. “I happen to know that area now leads in a perfect tunnel straight out of the school, now that it’s no longer in use.”

“Alright,” said Amity, scepticism in her voice. “How will we all know when we need to escape?”

“You can modify the bell, and call a fire drill.” Viney inputted. “I found out sometime last year that if you tickle it, it laughs. That can be our signal.”

“You just… found that out?” Luz asked. Viney shrugged.

“That sounds good,” Willow said with a breath. “Operation: Amity protection squad.”

“You’re such a dork,” Amity said to Willow, a foot kicking out to lightly nudge at her ex-friend’s thigh. Amity was wearing a soft smile that mirrored Willow, and a current of understanding passed between the two of them.

“I like that name,” Gus said.

“I do, too.” Luz said. “So it’s sorted?”

* * *

“Well then,” Luz said, after waving Willow and Gus goodbye – marking the last of their friends to leave the Owl House. “This was a pretty heavy day, huh? Productive – but heavy. How are you doing?”

Amity shrugged. “I’m okay.”

Luz studied her for a moment – the quilted blanket had become a staple in Amity’s time at the Owl House, and she seemed to wear it only when something was wrong. It was as if it acted as a shield, and if she clutched it hard enough, it’d protect her.

“Are you sure?” Luz asked. “Because I’d be _super_ willing to listen.”

Amity’s eyes fell to the floor, colour brightening her cheeks slightly. “Can we sit?” She asked quietly.

Luz blinked. “Sure!” She said hurriedly, walking back into the living room. “Okay.”

Luz took the seat she’d seen Eda take every morning for two years, and watched as Amity slumped into the opposite corner of the couch, curling her feet up underneath her. “So what’s up?” Luz asked.

Amity shrugged, the action made almost comical by the bulk of blanket amplifying her shoulders. “I… I guess I’m having a bit of trouble.”

Luz hummed. She wanted to be a good listener – encouraging, and quiet.

“A lot has been happening,” Amity continued. A hand peeked out from under her blanket, and she began to bite slightly at one of her nails. “And… I guess I’m on the edge quite a lot?”

“That makes sense,” Luz said quietly, nodding.

“I’ve always been pretty good at compartmentalising,” said Amity, “but recently… I guess it’s like there’s too much _to_ compartmentalise.”

Clicking from upstairs paused their conversation – and Luz watched Amity’s neck crane up awkwardly fast. The footsteps stopped a moment later.

“Hey,” Luz said. “How about I make us some hot stag beetle juice, and we go up to the bedroom?”

Amity’s hand dropped, and she nodded timidly. Luz smiled as softly as she could, standing up.

Alright. Hot stag beetle juice. She could do that. She needed mugs.

As Luz prepared the juice, she heard the footsteps again – probably Eda doing some weird bout of cleaning, or something. She thought of Amity’s jerky reaction, to the point of it looking painful. Gods, Amity really _had_ been on the edge… and she hadn’t noticed.

Luz had good things about her. She knew this. For example: she was a great listener. She could empathise. She was determined, and strong, and pretty talented at magic considering how far behind all the others she was supposed to be. But she was so damn _oblivious._ To how Amity was feeling. Until it was too late.

She could push and push, but Amity was quiet – so she’d just have to get better at reading her.

“Alright,” Luz said, picking up the two mugs. “Stag juice for you, and water for me. Let’s go upstairs?”

Amity took the mug in the same way she had back when she first came to the Owl House – as if she were conserving its warmth with her pale fingers, preparing to steal that heat she so desperately needed. She stood as if the task were a huge milestone, and her steps almost dragged behind Luz. Her amber eyes had fallen to the floor.

Luz’s stomach was a pit of snakes.

They reached the bedroom (their bedroom? Luz didn’t quite know what to call it, yet) and Luz sat first. “Okay,” she said again. “We were talking about compartmentalising.”

Amity’s actions were slow. She took a sip of the stag juice, seeming to savour it for a few moments before swallowing. She let herself inhale deeply.

“Sometimes I think about what I’m missing out on,” Amity admitted. “With the whole family thing. I – I look at you and Eda, and Camilia, and… it sounds kind of stupid, but I want that.”

Luz nodded, despite her mind being a flurry. Was she making things worse for Amity?

“I just… I get sad when I think about how I’ll never have that kind of relationship. I’d usually be able to compartmentalise that… but it’s not really working anymore. Now the sadness is spilling over into all the other sections, and I can’t control it.”

“So… you’re overwhelmed, which is making your sadness about your family worse,” Luz said once she was sure Amity was done. Amity nodded, sipping at the stag juice again. “But you don’t want a relationship with your parents.”

“Spirits, no,” Amity said. “I’d rather never see them again.”

“What about…” Luz hesitated. “What about the twins?”

Amity shrugged. “They don’t care about me. Emira’s off on her trek, and Ed’s started university already.”

“How does that make you feel?” Luz asked. She hoped that line wasn’t as much of a cliché here as it was in the human realm.

Amity shrugged. “Sad, I guess.” She said. “I don’t think they knew the full extent of my relationship with my parents, but… they still abandoned me.”

Luz reached out, taking one of Amity’s hands in her own. Amity placed the mug down on the floor. “So now everybody has somebody, and I’m just… here.” Amity said. “I’m alone. I pushed everybody way because of my parents, and now I can’t get that back.”

“You have me,” Luz offered, squeezing Amity’s hand. “And Eda. And King. And Willow, and Gus, and Boscha. You just can’t see it yet.”

Amity shook her head. Luz moved over to sit besides Amity on her bed, and was surprised when Amity placed her head on Luz’s shoulder. “I can’t see what isn’t there, Luz,” Amity sniffled. “I just… have to deal with this.”

“No, you don’t.” Luz said. Her free hand, not intertwined with Amity’s, lifted up to stroke the girl’s slowly-growing green hair. “Not alone, at least.”

Amity sniffed, burrowing her face into Luz’s neck. Luz wasn’t sure, but it felt like Amity was crying. Her hand moved from stroking Amity’s hair to wrapping her up in a hug. “I’m here,” Luz said, placing a tender kiss to Amity’s head like her mama used to do with her. Amity reached out of the blanket, arms wrapping around Luz’s ribs. “I’ll always be here,” Luz continued, the words whispered into Amity’s hair. “I promise. _Prometo._ _Estoy aquí._ _”_

Amity was a warmth in her arms – a constant, and a comfort. Luz knew she shouldn’t be thinking about it – she _knew,_ because she was supposed to be a really good friend right now, but she couldn’t help but focus on how Amity felt in her arms. How _good_ Amity felt in her arms.

That was a problem for another time, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all were pretty good at that analysis thing last chapter, which i literally loved, so if anybody wants to leave me an essay, i wouldn't say no....
> 
> anyways, thank you so much for reading!!! i hope you enjoyed, please take this endless love and support: <33333


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi. here is (hopefully) some serotonin. the update schedule is falling apart, but i will artfully avoid that topic until i die.
> 
> hope you enjoy, darlings <3
> 
> (also biden WON take that you orange fucking cheeto)

To fall in love with a person, somebody once told Luz, was a lot to do with observation. The first step was always looking at the way they moved. How they held a pencil, perhaps – how much butter they put on their bread, or whether they put their right or left shoe on first. Because watching somebody’s mannerisms, when they believed nobody was paying attention, was a great way to get to know somebody, they’d said. The innocence of isolation. Then, after you observed, you found the beauty in each action. The brightness in their eyes when they saw what was for breakfast. The dance of their fingers along the bannister as they walked up the stairs. The elegant way in which they stretched their arms over their head when they woke up; a delicate, open arch.

Luz Noceda was not in love with Amity Blight; fact. She was young – barely brushing the cusp of seventeen, and balancing two separate lives, both of which she cared so immensely about it almost overwhelmed her. She didn’t even know what love was, for spirits’ sake. That was too bold a claim to make. However, now that Luz had tuned closer into Amity than before, she had begun to see reasons (reasons that were, apparently and unfortunately, infinite) that would justify _somebody_ falling in love with her. Also fact. Like how Amity needed a few minutes of peace, like a silent meditation, before she was able to sleep, which she usually spent looking silently out of the window and at the stars. Or, maybe, how she made her bed every morning, and three days into her stay at the Owl House she’d began folding the top corner of the blanket like Luz was always taught to, so their beds would be matching.

This… was a problem.

Back to the facts. Luz couldn’t be in love with Amity, because she’d never experienced love, and had nothing to compare her feelings to. Kind of iffy, but still a fact. However, Luz really liked Amity – touching Amity, or being near her, or… having her in her arms. Fine. She was a physically affectionate person, first of all – she liked hugging everybody. Amity was just a new addition to her relationship circle – of which, she hadn’t had an addition in a long time. She’d just forgotten how it felt to make a new friend.

And even if it _were_ some almost-but-not-quite feeling of love, Luz had prepared a list of why that would be the worst idea in the world:

Firstly, there was no time for love. That dual-life thing tended to take up a lot of time, and required a focus that love wouldn’t allow. Luz had responsibilities to everybody else in her life. She couldn’t just go and give her feelings away to her strictly-platonic friend. That’d just be mean.

And secondly, the… morality of it all. If witch psyche worked in anywhere near the same way human psyche did (which Luz suspected it did, because considering how she’d judged the people she surrounded herself with way back when she first showed up in the Boiling Isles, and how right her assumptions had turned out to be, there had to be at least some commonalities), Luz was setting herself up for a hero complex. If Amity was feeling anything for Luz – which, doubtful, because who would? – it wouldn’t be love. It would be admiration. For letting her stay at the Owl House, and dealing with her parents that one time. And even then, if it wasn’t that, it’d be the worse alternative – Amity would feel obliged to return Luz’s feelings out of fear of being kicked out, and their relationship would end up being toxic and one-sided. She didn’t want that.

…Okay, so now that she was thinking about it, it couldn’t _hurt_ to think a little more… right? She’d entertain the idea – and only for a moment – that Amity could possibly be crushing on her, too. Amity used to blush around her. She still does. She’d always thought Amity was too cold, or too warm, or embarrassed – but maybe not. However, they hadn’t spoken for almost two years straight before Amity showed up on her doorstep. For one year of that time, they hadn’t even smiled at each other in the corridors. That isn’t very crush-y behaviour.

But then even if they did date – even if Amity could crush on Luz, and Luz herself got over her nerves and confessed successfully – what if they broke up? They lived together, for spirits’ sake. There would be no escaping that awkwardness if they did break up.

There was also the option that Amity was straight – so Luz would have no chance at all (hypothetically, because this is all hypothetical, because Luz is _not_ in love with Amity.) Can’t rule that one out.

“Hey,” Amity’s voice came a moment before Luz saw her – peering around the bedroom’s doorframe, glowing in her nonchalance. “Dinner’s ready.”

Words took a moment to come – Amity’s hair was an inch or so longer than her shoulders, now, and Luz was truly beginning to see the dark roots that indicated her natural hair colour. “Okay,” she said eventually, quietly.

Amity paused, entering the doorway fully, biting her lip in an almost confused way – which really didn’t help Luz. “Are you okay?” Amity asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “You’ve been… weird. All day.”

“I’m fine!” Luz shook her head. “Really. I’m just… peachy.”

Amity nodded slowly. “Okay.” She said. “Come down, then.”

And then she was gone, and Luz’s chest was tight with a feeling she’d definitely never felt for anybody else. Her fingertips tingled.

She was being stupid. She was being _selfish._ Who was she to take advantage of the situation her friend had been forced into? Amity was dealing with enough – she didn’t deserve Luz’s strange, messed-up ball of feelings to untangle, too.

Luz blew out a breath. She stood. She’d fight it. She was good at fighting things.

Besides, it wasn’t like she’d had a crush on Amity in the first place.

* * *

“You’re not hungry?”

Luz blinked out of her daydream – Eda was looking at Amity, who’d placed her cutlery down and was sitting patiently. She’d stiffened slightly at the address, her back becoming a board in line with the chair.

Luz looked down to Amity’s plate at the same time as Amity did, noting the few parts of food leftover. “Oh,” she said. “Is that alright?”

“Sure,” Eda said. “We’ll save the leftovers for tomorrow, anyway – won’t we, King?”

“Leftovers mean we feast!” King declared.

Amity nodded, relaxing slightly. Her feet tapped an intricate rhythm into the floorboards under the table. Huh. She seemed… more at home. Did she trust them, now?

“Hey Luz,” Eda addressed. “Stop daydreaming, and join the conversation.”

It was Luz’s turn to shoot up. “Sorry,” she said, hoping the heat in her cheeks didn’t show as a shade of pink to everybody else. “What did you say?”

* * *

“Alright,” said Luz. “Start with the vegetables?”

Eda had sent them out with a shopping list, a pouch full of snails – much more than they needed – and instructions to “treat themselves with the extra money.” So, Luz and Amity were trying to navigate the market-stalls, whilst also trying to read Eda’s chicken-scratch.

“There’s a vegetable stand up here,” Amity said.

They walked, silenced in amongst the somewhat bustling crowd. Amity was in front of Luz by a step or two, guiding them both to the stand she’d seen.

“What do we need from it?” Amity asked, turning her neck awkwardly. Luz looked down at the list – reciting all the vegetables she could spot – and Amity relayed it over to the witch on the market stall. He bagged them (some of them were _moving,_ and it had been years, but Luz still found that strange) and held the bag out for Amity to take – which she did, exchanging several snails for the food. “Where too next?”

This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence – every once in a while, the authorities caught up a little too close for comfort, and Eda sent Luz out to do the household’s grocery shopping. She’d usually be accompanied by King, but the demon was busy today (something about an ‘excuse’, and ‘Eda’, and ‘date’ – she hadn’t really gotten a straight answer.) So… her and Amity.

Because Luz had been doing a lot of thinking about Amity (in a totally not-creepy way), she’d also been doing a lot of thinking about the day before. Amity had trusted her – _her –_ enough to open up about her feelings. And she’d said… she was having trouble.

Luz had to do her best to help.

“Hey, Amity,” Luz said, jogging slightly to stand besides her, as they walked through the market-stalls. “So, I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

“What I said?” Amity asked innocently. Luz had handed her the list, and she was currently scouring over it. “When?”

“Yesterday,” Luz said. “You know – after the protection squad left.”

“Oh,” Amity’s hand dropped slowly, but she didn’t look at Luz. Her eyes were focussed on the path in front of them. “What about it?”

“Well,” Luz said. “I can’t do much about a bit of it, but I was thinking we could… set up a system. It’s really easy – doesn’t even require speaking – and it’s from the human world, so nobody else will know what we’re doing.”

They reached a market stall, and Luz paused, watching as Amity conversed with the man at the stand. Amity was good at communicating with the vendors, apparently. Very… to-the-point. Some may even refer to it as aggression. (That should _not_ be endearing.)

“So, yeah,” Luz pushed on, mind caught on the idea now that she’d brought it up. “The human system – wow, I didn’t consider this, but you’ll probably find it _really_ weird. Anyway… yeah.”

“Luz,” Amity said, turning to her. They stopped walking, in the middle of the crowd – people parted besides them to make way. She knew she should be concerned with how they were blocking people, and probably being a large public nuisance, but Amity was looking at her.

Amity really didn’t make eye contact often. Luz wished she would do it more often.

An eyebrow raised brought Luz back on topic. “Right!” She said, laughing awkwardly. “Okay… so it’s called the thumbs-up system.”

“The _thumbs up_ system? What does it have to do with thumbs?”

“I’ll explain!” Luz said, grabbing Amity’s arm (she’d been distracted – but they were being _really_ annoying, just standing there.) She tried to not focus on how she’d also kind of done it for the contact (unsuccessfully – it was all she could think about.)

“Alright,” she said, pulling Amity into the empty space between two stalls. “Wow, this feels like you’re about to sell me drugs.”

“What’s a drug?”

“Woah, I never told you? Wow – that’ll be fun to explain. Hey, what happens if _witches_ smoke we-“

“Luz,” Amity said, sternly but not unkindly. “You’re getting side-tracked again. You were talking about thumbs.”

“Yes.” Luz clapped her hands against her cheeks once, to focus herself. She’d seen it in anime… it really didn’t work. “So. It’s a simple method. You stick your thumb out, like this.”

Luz demonstrated. After a second, Amity copied.

“Good! So, the system is, when you’re feeling good, it’s thumbs to the sky. When you’re alright, not in any major discomfort but kind of not liking the vibes, it’s thumbs parallel. And then thumbs down is really bad – like a ‘get-me-out-of-here-now’ situation. Alright?”

Amity’s brows were drawn together, and she had both thumbs pointed down, from the previous example. “I don’t get it.”

“Imagine this,” Luz said. “I’m in a situation that I hate – like the Grom fright, you remember that? And my mom shows up, at which point I’m like, ‘this sucks and I want to be anywhere but here!’ That’d be a thumbs down moment.”

“But why?” Amity asked. “What will pointing my thumbs down do?”

“Well, _I’ll_ know you’re feeling like that, and then you have me to help you get out of that situation!” Luz said, with a grin that was probably a little too cheery given the conversational topic. “I’ll ask you how you are – like this,” she put her thumbs up and over-exaggeratedly raised her eyebrows. “And then you can respond.”

“Talking… with my thumbs.”

“Yes!” Luz held her hand out for a high five. “You got it, Blight!”

“Please don’t call me that,” said Amity, reaching weakly for the high five. It barely made a noise as their palms touched.

“Yeah, sorry,” Luz said, hand reaching to the back of her neck to rub a kink in the muscle there. “So… let’s practice.”

Luz put her thumbs up, and raised her eyebrows. “This is my ‘how are you doing?’ pose. You would respond with…”

Amity paused for a singular second, before giving Luz a thumbs up. “This is my ‘thumbs to the sky’ pose,” she said.

“Thumbs to the… yeah, you got it.” Luz grinned. “Now give me a high five like you mean it!”

“Like I… mean it?”

“Yeah! Hit it hard!”

“But I don’t want to hurt you.”

Luz let her hand drop, an absolutely ridiculous and incredibly unjustified amount of heat rising to her face all at once. “Never mind,” she said, turning away from Amity and back in the direction of the market. “We have a shopping list to complete. Where to next?”

* * *

The walk home leaves a lot to think about. There is no possible capacity for conversation, because both Luz and Amity are holding too many heavy shopping bags (which – how did Eda ever do this by herself?) and focussed on not dropping things rather than talking.

Besides, what would they talk about? Shared trauma? History of abuse? Luz’s glaringly obvious crush?

Luz can’t help noticing that Amity looks caught up in thought. You’d think that sadness is a look you get used to seeing on someone’s face – but apparently not. Especially when there’s nothing you can really do about it.

“Well, look who we have here?” Hooty greets the moment he spots Luz and Amity. “You two sure have a lot of stuff.”

“Yeah,” Luz manages to get out. “Open the door, Hooty.”

“Don’t you want to hear about my amazing day?” Hooty asks, somehow sounding offended. “It started when a bird flew into my mouth this morning! And then-“

“Hooty!” Amity dropped a bag to the floor, if only so she could level a glare at the magical being. “Open the door.”

He obliged. Wow – was he scared of Amity?

Luz entered first, dumping the bags onto the kitchen floor. “Eda?” She called, turning and grabbing two of Amity’s, to offload as well. “We’re back!”

“Amazing!” Eda said, coming through to the doorway of the kitchen and leaning against the frame. “You two were gone a while. Buy anything fun?”

“Your groceries,” Amity muttered – a little too quiet to be intentionally heard. Eda, however, snorted out a laugh.

“Funny, kid,” she said. “Seriously – did you have leftover snails? Did you buy something interesting?”

“Why?” Luz asked, straightening up. “Did you want us to buy you something?”

“I wanted you to _do_ something,” Eda said, shooting a wide-eyed look at Luz. She didn’t get it.

“We have the leftover money,” Amity said. “There was nothing worth buying that we could carry home on top of all of this.”

She fished out the purse, handing it over to Eda. “Oh,” Eda said, looking at it with the fakest smile Luz had ever seen (which was… weird. Eda always liked money.) “I just thought you two would have a nice time, you know? Out of the house… alone… together…”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at, Eda,” Luz said, making her way past her and into the living room, “but if you wanted something else from the market you should’ve put it on the list.”

Eda groaned. Luz didn’t dwell on it.

“King!” She called. “Where are you?”

“Here!” King said, crawling out from inside the chimney. “Eda said she hid all my demon history books around the house – I’ve been trying to find them all day.”

“You did?” Luz asked, turning to Eda, who’d turned herself in the doorframe and was now facing into the living room. “Why?”

“I was making potions!” Eda said, waving a flippant hand. “King needed some entertainment.”

“Yeah, well now he’s all dirty,” Luz chided. “Are you done with the potions? Where are the books?”

“Under his bed,” Eda said. King dropped to the floor, eyes widening in outrage.

“They’ve been _there_ the whole time?” He asked. “You let me walk past my bed how many times – and didn’t let me know?”

“It was kind of funny,” Eda said. “And what harm does it do? You never use those things, anyway.”

“Yes I do!” King crossed his little arms, trying to be disappointed but ending up looking a whole lot cuter than he had before. “I need them!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eda stood properly, walking towards the stairs. “I’m going to have some peace and quiet, by myself, for an hour. Amuse yourselves, children.”

With that, she was gone – leaving Luz, Amity and King. After a moment, King waddled off, too – probably to retrieve his precious books.

Luz and Amity stood, an open doorway separating them. And for the life of her, Luz couldn’t think of anything to say.

So instead, in the most ridiculous manner she could, she raised her eyebrows, and put her thumbs up.

Amity studied her for a second – lips pursed into silence. She put her thumbs up, the smallest of smiles pulling the corners of her lips upwards in a way that sent a current of electricity straight to Luz’s heart.

Not-love was… going to be difficult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello. so, some of you might be thinking, 'thumbs up? that's so stupid! the boiling isles surely knows about thumbs up - i saw it in [insert random episode clip here.]'
> 
> to that i say, wonderful. let's ignore that. you guys really don't want to memorise the huge and strange alternative are-you-okay system i also came up with. thumbs-to-the-sky-supremacy, alright?
> 
> also, can i get a kudo or a comment for the absolute gay disastery in this chapter? y'all are REALLY outdoing yourself recently with the whole making-me-cry-over-any-random-comment thing, and i'm living for it <333333


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah, yes. the last of the filler chapters. the sweet sweet scent of a rare update.
> 
> hello, darlings, i have missed you - and i hope you have fun with this chapter :))

Luz felt a little like she had become an intruder in her own home.

It was just – she had been so used to the arrangement they’d had going, where Luz woke up late and sleepily dragged herself down the stairs, to see Eda and King preparing for their days respectively. They’d share an acknowledgement – some days, Luz wouldn’t be able to dredge up words, and instead would simply sit in the kitchen until she could make herself eat breakfast. Others, the energy came easily, and she’d assist whoever needed it, until she was almost late for school. It didn’t matter, which was the best part about it. It was weird, but it was comfortable, and it was _hers._

Now, she woke late and felt guilty, almost. Because the routine had changed, and she felt _bad_ about it. Now, ever since Amity had moved in, Luz woke every day and had to take care to step around this weird Eda-Amity thing that had started sometime in between Luz’s eyes closing and re-opening the next morning. She didn’t _mind_ the change – mostly, she could fake it, pretending that she didn’t feel like she was being overbearing and annoying whenever she broke whatever silent-bonding thing they had going on with her greeting. But the more and more it happened, the more and more she felt like she was in the wrong.

They were a perfect little china shop, and Luz was the earthquake that shattered every piece.

These feelings were… horrible. (Not in that her experiences of them were horrible – they were, but that wasn’t quite what she was referring to.) Luz liked Amity – and she liked Eda, and she liked King, and she liked Hooty. But she’d _liked_ their dynamic before Amity came, too, and now it felt wrong to want it back. Honestly, she just kind of felt like a horrible person. What kind of a person was she, when she semi-regularly entertained thoughts of Amity leaving, and their comfortable routine slotting back into place? Plus, she didn’t want Amity to leave, necessarily – she liked (she _liked)_ Amity, and liked aspects of the way that she slotted into their routine. But how was she able to love so whole-heartedly at times, and then feel like this in others? Her feelings were a ball of tangled yarn, and Luz wasn’t ready to deal with them, yet.

Thoughts like these were easy to push away, until they were confronting her face-to-face once again. Every day, Luz would sleep, happy – and every morning, she would wake with a boulder in her stomach. The routine was different, now. She had to interrupt Eda and Amity, every morning, sometimes King, too, and get the day started. No longer did she help Eda pack her potions on the day of a long delivery run, or accompany King to find the special hat he wanted to wear on top of his skull. No, those things were all handled – and all it left behind was little old Luz, fumbling with the pieces of what she’d once had.

Was it weird, to refer to it as a ‘loss’?

Today, she’d tried to be quiet – sneak through the back of the living room, as Amity sat with the blanket she’d claimed so early on wrapped around her shoulders, and Eda sat with a book in her hands, the only sound being the magical turn of the pages. But Eda had looked up and spied her in the mirror, and as much as Luz tried not to see it, it was as if the whole dynamic of the room changed at once. Eda stood up, to not sit back down for the rest of the day, and Amity stood, too, discarding that blanket she had taken to loving so dearly. She’d been greeted with enthusiasm, sure – she’d really gotten Eda into the hugging thing – but the atmosphere she’d always been excluded from was lost.

She was really being a cry-baby about the whole situation, huh. She’d just have to get over it. Luz didn’t _actually_ want Amity to leave – she liked her, for spirits’ sakes. The feelings would pass. They always did.

Besides. Willow and Gus were coming over.

* * *

It had always been rather strange that Luz’s friends never wanted to visit the Owl House. Sure, there was a wanted criminal, a King of Demons, a magical owl-thing (nobody clarified what Hooty was to their guests – it was usually better that way) and a human between their walls. ( _And,_ Luz’s brain supplied, a very pretty witch with a tragic backstory and the brains to power a whole continent, but not to notice when Luz was bothered by something.) But when Willow and Gus visited, it was special. They were her friends. She could… relax, for a couple of hours. She didn’t get to hang out with them outside of school very often, so she’d treasure every moment.

But today, they’d made plans. Luz had walked home besides Amity, chattering for twenty minutes about what their plans were, and how she was so excited because they hadn’t been over in _ages,_ and the four of them would bond and have fun and unwind.

There were two reasons why Luz talked on the walk home. The first was something her mother used to call a “bad mix between extrovert-ism and ADHD”, which Luz just tended to refer too as ‘nerves,’ when faced with extended periods of silence. And the second was that Amity always went quiet at the end of the day, which Luz respected – an hour or so back at the Owl House, and she’d recharge her battery. It must be exhausting to be on edge all the time.

As always, they got home fast – and Luz greeted Eda with a standard hug. “Did you miss us?” She asked into Eda’s shoulder (because she could reach Eda’s shoulder now, apparently.)

Eda tended to laugh from her belly, and the sound reverberated through Luz. “Of course I did,” she said, placing a light kiss to Luz’s head, right before she let go. “How was your day at school?”

“It wad good!” Luz said, pulling back. She moved into the kitchen to dump her bag, watching as Hooty closed the front door behind Amity, who still had a tendency to loiter. Luz jumped into an explanation of her day – she’d had a _super hard_ time in Oracles today, but then her and Gus got to partner up.

Luz watched, as Eda greeted Amity with a friendly nod. Amity nodded back, and the interaction was complete.

“And then, at lunch –“ Luz walked back into the kitchen, pushing herself up to sit on the countertop. Eda stopped whatever she was doing to watch Luz, a fond grin on her face. “We had book club; except today, nobody showed up, because it was Skara’s birthday – which, by the way, is really weird, because Skara has birthdays every two months-“

Eda laughed. “Some rich kids do that,” she shrugged. “What can I say?”

“So it was just me!” Luz groaned. “But it’s okay; Gus and Willow are coming over.”

“That’s today?” Eda asked, turning to a kitchen cupboard and pulling out a jar of… something. (Luz really couldn’t keep track of the room, because Eda had dedicated half the room to cooking supplies, and the other half to potion supplies – and Luz still didn’t know which was which.) “I’ll disappear upstairs, then. King?”

“What?” Came King’s voice from upstairs. “I’m busy, Eda!”

Eda widened her eyes in an imitation of King to both girls, prompting a laugh from Luz. “Call me if you need anything, alright?” She said.

She turned the corner in the living room, leaving Amity and Luz in the kitchen. “Right,” Luz said. “We can drop our bags off in the bedroom, or-“

A knock on the door interrupted – and Luz stood, walking over. It was easy to hear Hooty’s voice, even before the door swung open.

“Willow and Gus are here!” Hooty called, as if Luz wasn’t standing right there. “I was just telling them about the one time I-“

“Hey guys!” Luz interrupted. “Come in.”

“Luz,” Hooty called. “You don’t want to know about me swallowing a bird?”

“Maybe later, Hooty,” she said, beckoning her friends into the living room. Hooty seemed to take it as an acceptable answer, the door closing.

When they entered the living room, Amity was there, sitting stiff as a board. Her blanket had once again taken refuge over her shoulders, cloaking her slightly. Willow and Gus paused in the doorway – Luz went straight through, taking the seat beside her.

“Amity?” Gus asked. “Why are you here?”

Willow’s eyes lit up behind hr circular-framed glasses. “I know why,” she said coyly, taking a seat on Luz’s other side. “Are you two courting?”

“Are we _what?”_ Luz asked. Amity’s face reddened.

“You’re dating?” Gus asked. “Oh – wow, really? That’s amazing!”

“Woah, wait-“ Luz held up her hands. “We’re not dating.”

Willow raised an eyebrow at Luz. She really hoped her body blocked Amity from seeing that look.

“Then… why is she here?” Gus directed the question at Amity, but seemed to be speaking to Luz. He made his way further into the room, taking a seat on the floor, back to the wall, facing the three of them on the couch. Luz turned to Amity, asking her with everything other than words if she’d be okay answering the question. Amity shook her head, softly. Her knees drew into her chest, disappearing under her blanket.

“You remember how Amity’s not living with her parents?” Luz began. “Well… she’s sort of staying here, instead.”

That was met with nods of understanding. “Why here?” Willow asked. “Why not come to my place?”

Amity shrugged. “The Owl House was the closest place I could think of. And… I wasn’t sure you’d want me.”

“Of course we’d want you, Amity.” Willow reached over Luz, placing a hand on Amity’s arm through the blanket. Amity flinched. “We may not have spoken in a while but… I’ll always be here for you. I forgave you, remember?”

After a moment, Amity nodded. Willow withdrew her hand.

“Alright,” she said. “You don’t have to say yes, but there’s this thing my dad’s like to do – we sit in a circle, and everybody says something they’re stressed about.” This sparked some form of recognition in Luz – perhaps Willow had mentioned it before, or maybe, years ago, they’d actually done it. “Do you want to try?”

“I do,” Gus said. “Where are we doing it?”

“Well – here, I guess,” Willow said. “It works like a charm; provided you tell the truth.”

Willow stood, joining Gus on the floor. “Come on,” she beckoned. “It needs to be a circle.”

Luz looked to Amity. She should’ve asked whether she’d be comfortable if Luz brought over friends – it was Amity’s house, too. Luz offered a thumbs up.

Amity stared at Luz’s hand a second, dredging up a thumbs up of her own. The two relocated to the living room floor, completing the circle.

“Okay,” Willow said, extending her hands. Luz and Gus took them unthinkingly, and Luz reached out to Amity. After a moment of trepidation, Amity took Luz’s other hand – sending a shiver through her arm. Amity’s hands were cold, Luz noted, as Amity tucked their conjoined hands back underneath her blanket. “So… who goes first?”

Nobody spoke. Willow let out a short sigh. “Alright,” she said softly, “I guess I will. Um, I guess I’m struggling with school?” She let out a soft deprecating chuckle. “It’s just, I know covens won’t really want me if I don’t get amazing grades, plus I joined the Grudgby team – but it’s kind of a lot.”

“What do you mean, they won’t want you?” Luz asked. “You’re amazing!”

“Thank you,” Willow squeezed Luz’s hand, “but that’s not what I mean. My dads aren’t… prestigious, or well-known, or anything. I have to stand out if I want to be noticed in between all these other people, you know?”

She looked across the circle, to Amity. “No offence.”

“None taken,” Amity said softly.

“Right,” Willow said. “Um – so, yeah. Grudgby takes up time, and studying takes up time, and I guess it’s all just a lot. That’s it from me.”

Willow turned to Gus. “Huh.” Gus said. “Well – I guess I’m always kind of annoyed that I’m not the same age as you guys,” he said. “I’ve mostly gotten over it, but some days it just kind of hits.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s kind of stupid.”

“It’s not stupid,” Willow said. “If it’s making you feel bad, how could it ever be stupid?”

A small smile lit Gus’s features, and he leant over to drive his shoulder into Willow’s arm. “You’re good at this,” he teased.

“Lots of practice,” she responded. “You have anything else?”

Gus shook his head, and then eyes were turning to Luz, who shrugged. “You all know I struggle with going to the human world every weekend,” she said. “That’s my main thing.”

Amity’s thumb stroked the back of Luz’s hand, comfortingly. Luz looked over, offering a small smile.

“Other than that, I’m good, though,” she said. “Amity?”

The thumb movements stopped; Amity’s eyes widened. “You don’t have to share,” Willow was quick to say, “if you’re uncomfortable. We wouldn’t mind.”

Amity cleared her threat. “Well –“ her voice came out hoarse, and she coughed slightly into her elbow. “Sorry. Um. Wow… where to start?”

She phrased it a little like a joke, laughing at herself, but Luz’s lips curled downwards.

“I guess the main thing on my mind right now is the twins,” Amity said. “Um – Emira and Edric? I don’t know if you guys met them?” She looked to Willow and Gus. Willow nodded in encouragement. “Well… they’re both finished with Hexside, and took the opportunity to get as far away from home – from _me –_ as possible.”

“You miss them?” Luz asked.

“I…” Amity faltered, hand disconnecting with Gus’s for a second to scratch at the back of her neck. “It’s more that I get sad when I think that they don’t miss me? That sounds conceited, wow.” She re-linked her hand with Gus’s, who’s eyes were wide with kindness in only a way that he knew how to do. Amity’s gaze was on the floor in between them. “I just… I guess sometimes I miss them, because I thought we were getting kind of close, but then they just upped and left. Which isn’t their fault, because I didn’t even _tell_ them I wanted them to stay – except then my mother had to go and find Ed’s pranking diary, and-“

“Amity,” Luz said softly, squeezing her friend’s hand. “You’re rambling.”

“Right. Sorry.” Amity took a deep breath. “I guess I do miss them; but I also kind of blame Ed for my having to relocate after I ran away. Even though he didn’t _mean_ for mom to find his diary, he still… left it.” Amity let out a sigh, and then promptly groaned. “It’s complicated.”

Willow nodded. “I’m happy that you could trust us,” she said. “Enough to confide in us. That must be really difficult.”

Amity sniffled, slightly. “I’m uncomfortable,” she announced to the room. “Can we do something else?”

“Of course!” Willow said. “But first… my dads have one more tradition.”

“Cuddle pile?” Luz asked?”

“Cuddle pile,” Willow confirmed.

For a moment, Amity looked confused. “What’s a cuddle pile?”

* * *

“This isn’t what it’s supposed to look like.”

Last weekend, Camilia had sent Luz and Amity back with baking supplies and a thick book of recipes. Originally, Luz betted, it had been for Eda – her mother’s pride prohibited her from asking Eda what day her birthday was on, and Luz was having far too much fun withholding the information, so she was stuck giving Eda ‘not-gifts’ every time she saw her.

Except, Luz had wanted to bake a cake, and Gus had wanted to taste a human cake, and they’d ended up… here.

“I don’t understand why it’s all sunken in like that,” Luz said, checking over the recipe. “I’m pretty sure we used roughly the right amount of ingredients.”

“How do you know how much we used?” Amity asked. “You weren’t measuring.”

“I was measuring with my eyes,” Luz said. “You guys don’t know human measurements.”

“And you couldn’t have translated?”

Luz waved her off, instead turning to Willow, who had taken a bite of the cake, and was making a face. “It’s sour,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“It’s – how?” Luz asked.

Gus had already taken a fork, and was biting into his own serving. Soon enough, his face mirrored Willow’s. “Did we do it wrong?” He asked. “Or is it just disgusting?”

“It can’t be that bad,” Amity tutted, taking her own piece and biting. For a moment, her features froze – and then she forced a half-hearted smile. “Tastes fine,” she mumbled around the piece of cake.

Luz softened slightly, smiling at the sentiment. “I bet it’s horrible,” she said. “My fault; I should’ve asked for a measuring cup. It’s fine, though! We still have the icing?”

“The icing has been smelling delicious,” Gus nodded. “I made it.”

“It couldn’t have gone wrong; you literally had one ingredient.” Willow walked over. “Okay, let’s see – isn’t this supposed to be decorative?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is it edible?”

Gus scoffed. “Of course it’s edible! Why would you put it on food if it was inedible?”

Luz looked over to Amity, who was spitting her bite of cake into the bin. She waited for her to straighten up, a hand coming to wipe at her mouth. “You okay?” Luz asked, quiet enough that Gus and Willow wouldn’t overhear over their little scuffle, putting her thumbs up. “Thumbs up?”

Amity looked down at her hands, before she mimicked the action, nodding. “Thumbs to the sky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, haha. imagine... amity's relationship with her family being twisted considering her parents have held her to an impossible standard her entire life? never. amity not being able to recognise healthy platonic relationships because she's never been in one? immaculate. also luz, being a not two-dimensional character, and having mixed feelings about things that may or may not show up later??
> 
> tell me all your thoughts in the comments below <33


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, loves. just a quick tw: this chapter contains a panic attack (and further discussions of said panic attack). stay safe; if you need a chapter summary in the end-notes, let me know :)
> 
> other than that, i hope you enjoy!!! this was a fun (should i call it fun??) chapter to write in terms of character dynamics. and she's a pretty chunky chapter, in comparison to the rest, which i know some people go for.
> 
> also, drink some water. go. i know you're dehydrated.

“And then this piece moves,” Amity explained, moving said piece across the board. “In this case, I’d be able to eat your Guard.”

Luz frowned at the board in front of her. “But I thought Beast pieces could only move once every five moves?” She asked.

“Yeah – unless one of my pieces eats one of yours. Then the timer’s reset,” Amity explained. “Sorry. I’m bad at this.”

“No, no,” Luz shook her head. “I’m just a slow learner. I’m getting it, though!”

Luz had awoken that morning to rain pattering down outside her window. For a moment, she could close her eyes and imagine it was the human rain – a sound that used to be so calming, before it had merged into the demon realm’s, until she didn’t know the distance. But it had persisted well on into the afternoon, and after a morning of Eda’s entertainment, and King exhausting himself with their company, both had retired to their separate parts of the house.

Which left Luz and Amity, sitting on either side of the kitchen counter, playing a fancy board game Amity had found in the Living Room.

“Alright,” Luz said. “So it’s my go now. I… can I move this one?”

She picked up a circular-looking piece, and Amity shook her head. “Oracles can only move left or right, so you don’t have space to,” she explained. “You can move your bat, though.”

Luz frowned. Bats were the weakest pieces in the game.

The two of them had spent at least an hour, now, with Amity fretting between trying to explain how to play the game, fawning over the way it was made, and stories of how she used to play it as a kid. Luz sat through it all, somewhat enamoured by the way Amity seemed to seep her passion into every word and movement, letting it fill the room. Perhaps it was that they were alone – maybe she trusted Luz enough to show herself this side of her.

Now, they were sat, and Amity was coaching Luz through her third game. Luz was, unfortunately, not doing much better.

Resting her head on her palm, Luz moved the bat forwards two spaces – right in front of Amity’s Summoner. “I lose this piece, right?”

“You could have moved your other three bats,” Amity pointed out, knocking said bat over with her Summoner, and placing it next to her heat pile of Luz’s deceased players. “But, yes – Summoners can kill bats.”

The game was a weird mix of chess, dungeons and dragons, and rock-paper-scissors – all of which made it increasingly more difficult to understand. (“It takes a while, and I’ll admit – you’re at a disadvantage having not grown up with the context of the witch world,” Amity had said halfway through their first game, when Luz was being told move-by-move what to do and _still_ losing miserably. “But you’ll get there.”)

Luz tried not to think about it. It didn’t do her any good to spend time thinking about her feelings. There were bigger fish to fry.

So, she sighed, and tried to focus back in on the game. Examining the board was an eyesore in itself (Luz _wished_ the decoration part of the game was where the chess similarities begun, but unfortunately, each piece was assigned its own unique shade of garish, and it was threatening to give her a headache.) “Can I move my Beast?”

“Yes,” said Amity. “But – not anywhere useful?”

“Well, what else can I do?” She asked.

“You have three other bats,” Amity offered.

“Yeah,” Luz scoffed, moving her Beast forwards. “You’ll just eat those.”

Luz pulled her hand back, observing as Amity looked over the board. She had a certain type of look on her face – the kind she got when she was doing school work, or carrying an intellectual conversation. It…

It meant Luz was about to be crushed underneath Amity’s feet.

“I hate the rain,” Luz groaned as Amity made her move. “We can’t _do_ anything.”

Amity blinked. “You don’t like the game?”

“No, I do – I… the rain just sucks.”

Amity tilted her head to the side. “It’s your go,” she prompted. “Why hate the rain? You like the stuff in the human world.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just that when I’m here, and it rains, something bad _always-“_

A knock on the door interrupted, and both Luz and Amity turned, obviously spooked.

“…happens,” Luz finished off. “I’ll answer it. Are you gonna sit in the living room?”

They’d discussed this before – what to do if somebody visited unannounced – and Eda had advised that Amity stay out of sight. Who knows who could be at the door, after all? Even if the mysterious guest wasn’t with the Emperor’s Coven, word got around fast, and Amity was sure to have some kind of reward over her head.

Amity walked over to the living room, securing herself out of sight, and Luz waited another beat before walking over to the door. She swung it open with as much enthusiasm as a somewhat creeped-out person could.

“Lilith?” Luz asked. “What are you doing here?”

Lilith was the picture of poise, as usual. Her hair, dark and pin-straight, wasn’t touched by the rain that slid off of her perfectly-shaped umbrella of a forcefield. Her lips, painted a deep blue, were curled up into a false smile. It slipped, slightly, as she looked down her nose at Luz.

“Oh,” she said. “It’s the human. Is Edalyn home?”

“Yeah,” Luz said. “I’m – I’ll go and get her?”

Without waiting for an answer, Luz slammed the door in Lilith’s face (if it was a little hard, then so what?) and hurried into the Living room. She spotted Amity, curled up in the corner, all that excitement Luz had… gone.

_Lilith?_ She mouthed, the edges of her lips weighted downwards, slightly.

Luz nodded, making a quiet motion with her hands before rushing up the stairs. “Eda?” She called loudly, hoping the walls of the Owl House were thin enough to let Lilith hear her. “Eda? Lilith is here!”

Halfway up the second flight of stairs, Luz paused, as Eda’s door opened. “She-“ Eda frowned. “Lilith is here?”

Luz gave a hum of affirmation.

“And she _knocked?”_

“I guess so,” Luz said. “Are you coming? She asked for you.”

Eda followed her down the stairs. “You think she’s here for the kid?” Eda asked quietly. It always made Luz happy, that Eda valued her opinion enough to ask – but at the same time, she hadn’t even considered that. It sent a spark of worry through her stomach.

“She might be,” Luz said. “I’ll stay with her. First line of defence, and all that.”

Eda nodded as they reached the bottom of the stairs, parting ways. Luz made her way into the Living room, sitting on the floor besides Amity, who’d grabbed her blanket – but, rather than wrap it around herself like she usually did, she was clutching onto it with whitened knuckles.

“Hey,” Luz whispered, a hand ghosting over Amity’s in an attempt to relax her. “It’s gonna be okay.”

They both quietened as Eda opened the front door, one room over. “Lilith!” Eda greeted in a half-surprised tone. “What are you doing here?”

Lilith sighed, loud enough to be audible even to Luz and Amity. “I’m not here for pleasure, Edalyn,” said Lilith. “Your… human. She’s friends with the Blight, right?”

Eda stayed silent for a moment – probably feigning some sort of ignorance. Luz’s hand tightened around Amity’s, brushing the blanket. Lilith spoke again.

“You know the one I’m talking about – Amity. They fought at the convention?”

“The convention was years ago,” Eda blew off. “I don’t remember what happened.”

“Cut the crap, Eda,” Lilith’s voice was as cold as the air outside. “Is she here?”

“No,” Eda sighed. “Why would she be?”

Luz stopped craning to hear the conversation for a moment when she noticed Amity’s breathing picking up – breaths turning choppy, and uneven. “Hey,” she whispered, hand letting go of Amity’s immediately, as if the contact had somehow caused the reaction. “Amity?”

“She ran away,” Lilith said from the other room. “You hear anything about that?”

“Amity,” Luz whispered again. Amity’s eyes had dropped, and they were sort of misted-over in an unnatural way. “You have to breathe. In, and out. In,” she demonstrated. Amity didn’t follow. Could she even hear her?

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Eda said relaxedly. “Hey – you want some tea, or something? The rain’s pretty heavy.”

A spark of recognition lit the back of Luz’s mind. Amity was – could she be having a panic attack? But… panic attacks were _human._ Witches didn’t get them.

Lilith didn’t answer Eda’s question. “You’re saying Amity isn’t here?”

“Nope,” Eda popped the ‘p’ on the word. “Her and Luz stopped talking about a year ago, anyway. Hey – have you checked that girl, Willow’s place?”

Luz wracked her mind for everything she knew. She’d known a boy – in her human school – with a panic disorder. He used to count things… senses.

“Amity?” Luz asked. “Hey – it’s alright. Can you tell me something you can see?”

Amity didn’t respond. She didn’t even react to the words. Her breathing was loud, now – uneven and scared. “Okay,” Luz said, grabbing Amity’s hands, which had now gone cold. “Well – I can see the fireplace. And the carpet. And the door.”

No response, again, but Amity’s eyes moved – to the fireplace. Luz swallowed. “Um, two more things. I can see the sofa – see, the sofa? How about you tell me something you can see.”

After a moment, Amity spoke. “Mirror,” she said, voice quiet and croaky. Luz prayed that Lilith couldn’t hear that.

“Good,” Luz soothed. “Alright. Um – tell me four things you can hear, now.”

“I haven’t,” Lilith’s voice dripped with discontent. “Thank you so much for the referral.”

“Anytime,” Eda clicked her tongue. “You sure you don’t want a drink? I have hot stag beetle juice.”

Amity seemed to hear Lilith’s voice, too – and her breathing picked back up. “Ok, never mind. That was my fault,” Luz said. “I’ll – okay. I’m sorry in advance, about this.”

Luz lunged forwards, wrapping Amity up into a hug, and squeezed. Amity was stiff as bone beneath her; breaths stilting almost to a complete stop. “It’s alright,” Luz whispered into Amity’s hair. “It’s going to be alright.”

Eda and Lilith continued their conversation – but Luz’s reassurances drowned them out. After a few moments, she felt Amity’s chest start to slow its movement, gradually. She pressed on, holding Amity tighter and whispering more sentiments into the open air.

The door shut, and then Eda appeared in the doorway. “She’s gone, thanks to – woah, kid.”

Luz didn’t let go of Amity, but felt Eda move closer. “Hey, Amity?” Eda said. “She’s gone, now. She can’t reach you in here. We’ve got you.”

Amity’s breathing picked up, again – chest movements shallow, and loud. Luz froze. What was making it worse? Lilith was gone, now. “Amity,” Luz said, arms getting impossibly tighter around her friend. “She’s gone, now – you’re safe.”

She couldn’t hear her. Luz couldn’t do anything. She was useless, in this situation, as much as any other time. The ache to help was fruitless when it had no supply.

“Alright,” Eda’s voice was calm, and quiet, over Luz’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go upstairs. I’m making this worse.”

Luz couldn’t turn to acknowledge her mentor – couldn’t let go of Amity – so she sat and listened as Eda’s footsteps retreated, the tell-tale creak of the stairs cementing her absence. “It’s just us, now,” Luz said – she couldn’t think of anything to say, so whatever words came, she used. “Me and you, Amity. We’re safe, here.”

Slowly, Amity’s breathing returned to normal, and Luz let herself relax, if only slightly. Amity’s eyes dropped again – skittering over her kneecaps. Her cheeks flushed with heat, and she gulped, silently.

“Amity?” Luz ventured, hesitant to reach out even though she ached to. “Are you… are you okay?”

Amity shrugged. “I’m sorry,” she said, in leeway of an answer. “I’ll – I’m sorry.”

“No,” Luz shook her head. “Why are you sorry?”

“I –“ Amity’s laugh was hollow, and deprecating. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

“Did what?” Luz asked, but Amity was already burrowing her head in her hands. “Amity, there’s no reason to be sorry.”

But Amity wasn’t responding, now – it looked like she was crying. “Can I hug you?” Luz asked again, taking Amity’s non-answer as a non-protest. It was easy – natural, even – to wrap her up in her arms. “Please,” Luz said into Amity’s hair, “don’t be sorry. What you just went through wasn’t your fault.”

Slowly, Amity uncurled, accepting Luz’s embrace and reciprocating by wrapping her own arms around Luz, and burying her head into the crook of her shoulder. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Luz continued. “But you’re safe, now.”

Amity sniffed into her shoulder, nodding. The tears still came, though – they began to soak Luz’s hoodie. Luz filled with annoyance, at herself – all she could do was hug her and hope for the best. But she couldn’t _do_ anything. Not really, anyway.

So, she held her.

* * *

“You don’t have to,” Luz began, “but I think we should talk to Eda.”

They’d been sat like that for the better part of an hour – tangled up in each other, comforted by the pitter-patter of rain and the steady, even breaths of the walls. They’d ended up pressed up against the cool brick of the fireplace, Luz with an arm wrapped around Amity’s shoulders, legs curled halfway to her chest. Amity hummed into Luz’s shoulder, shifting slightly so her chin pressed into Luz’s neck. “Why?” She mumbled – voice still weak.

“She’s an adult,” was Luz’s first voice of reason – the one that had been hammered into her by Camilia. “And she’ll know how to help. If this… happens again.”

“Okay,” Amity sucked in a breath. “We’ll talk to Eda.” She sounded decisive; the idea was set.

“Okay,” Luz mirrored. Neither of them moved.

* * *

“Eda?” Luz knocked tentatively.

Eda emerged from her room, giving Luz a concerned once-over. “Are you okay?” She asked. “Is Amity?”

Luz nodded. “We – we actually wanted to talk to you. About it.”

“Alright,” said Eda. “Downstairs?”

For the second time that day, Eda followed Luz as she walked down the stairs – slower this time. They creaked under Luz’s weight, and then again under Eda’s. Luz was caught up in the image of earlier – of Amity, pale and shaking, struggling to breathe. She couldn’t shake it.

“Hey,” Luz said as they reached the bottom of the stairs, going into the Living room. “I brought Eda.”

Luz’s movements were tentative, and slow – but nowhere near the level Eda was exercising. “Hey, kid,” she said, her voice softer than Luz had heard in a while. “Mind if I sit?”

Amity was still on the floor – Luz had taken her time curling back up besides her, making sure not to move that quilted blanket from her shoulders. She nodded, weakly – and Eda sat on the floor, with her back pressed to the couch, a soft smile on your face.

“Alright,” Eda said. “So – you want to talk about it?”

Amity paused for that answer – but, after a moment, nodded again.

“So,” Eda cleared her throat. “I’ll ask you a few questions, and if you don’t want to answer, you can just say so. That all good?”

Another nod. Luz shifted, slightly, as Amity reached for her hand underneath the blanket. The action was subtle, and shouldn’t be sending Luz’s heart into overdrive – not when they were in such a serious situation, and _especially_ not when Amity’s head was so close to resting on her chest, she might be able to hear the pounding through the skin.

“What caused that reaction?” Eda asked.

“Lilith,” Amity said. “Her voice, I think?”

“Okay. Has that sort of thing happened before?”

Amity’s eyes dropped, but she nodded. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Eda reassured. “We just want to be able to help you, for next time. Is there anything that’s helped when you’ve… gotten like that, before?”

“I don’t think so,” said Amity. “I – usually I just wait it out. It always goes away, after a while.”

“You keep on calling it, ‘it.’” Luz observed half-mindedly. “Doesn’t it have a name?”

“Not here,” Eda said.

“Well… in the human world,” Luz started, “that’s called a panic attack.”

Eda hummed. “That’s a very to-the-point name.”

“Yeah,” Luz laughed. “I never thought of it like that. But – it’s not unnatural, Amity. Other people experience that, too.”

“You know, here, there… isn’t really a word for it,” Eda explained. “It isn’t generally talked about. Wasn’t for my generation, at least.”

“So, other people go through that?” Amity asked. “I – I never thought about that, I guess.”

“You’re not alone,” Luz squeezed Amity’s hand – glad, now, that she’d reached out for comfort, as it helped her express her point. “You never are.”

Eda was nodding, from halfway across the room. “I get that kind of thing makes you tired, though,” Eda said. “How about you two head on upstairs, get some sleep?”

“But it’s so early,” said Luz.

“Take a nap, or something. I’ll come get you for dinner. It’s not like you’ll do anything else – school’s cancelled when it rains.”

Luz was about to protest again, but Amity’s small, “okay,” silenced her. Eda nodded, satisfied, and stood, brushing off her clothes and stretching a little.

“I’ll get back to work, then,” she said. “Don’t nap too long – dinner’s in a couple hours, and you both still have homework.”

* * *

They fell into a comfortable silence whilst Amity was getting ready to sleep, and Luz found herself watching over her friend. She couldn’t help it.

It took a while to find the right words – she’d been mulling them over as Amity brushed through her hair, rolling them around to test out their shape whilst they were changing back into pyjamas – and was finally ready to say them as the two were back in the bedroom, and Amity was doing that meditation-thing she did every night. “Hey, Amity,” Luz said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Amity, who hadn’t gotten into bed just yet, gave a small smile. “I think I will be,” she said, too honestly for Luz’s heart to take. “Thumbs to the sky.”

“Okay,” Luz said. “And, you’d tell me if you weren’t?”

Amity nodded. “Alright,” said Luz. “Is there anything else?”

“Can you-“ Amity cut herself off.

“What?” Asked Luz.

“No, it’s stupid.”

“What?”

Amity sighed, a hand rubbing at one eyebrow. “I was going to ask if you could read me something – or just speak, I guess. Your voice is… comforting.”

“Aww, Amity,” Luz teased. “You like my voice?”

“Stop it,” Amity threatened, “or I’ll just curl up and go to bed.”

“Alright,” Luz got up, walking to the side of her room. “The Good Witch Azura, book 5. Is this to your tastes, Amity?”

Amity nodded, meekly, curling up under the comforter. “Good,” Luz said, walking back over to her own bed so she could sit. She cleared her throat – and began to read.

* * *

Luz woke, the next morning, and she was alone. A common occurrence – but, as she let yesterday’s memories wash over her – an uncomfortable one. Her feet found the cold wood of the floorboards, and she navigated between them to make her way to the door.

She moved down the stairs quietly, noticing the inklings of a conversation before she got to the base. “So if it happens again,” Eda was saying, “there’s more than one person you can come to – people that understand you.”

“Thank you,” Amity’s voice was hazy with the early morning, as it always seemed to become. “I’m – I’m not very good with… maternal figures.”

Eda hummed, but didn’t prompt further. “It’s not your fault, though,” Amity said. “I just… worry, sometimes, I guess? It’s like an instinct.”

“I understand,” Eda said. “If you need me to back off, please just tell me – I won’t be offended, alright?”

Amity must have nodded, because the two lapsed into silence. Luz considered making her presence known – but Eda interrupted, before she could act on her thoughts.

“Hey, Amity?” Eda asked. “You up for a hug yet?”

Shuffling noises – indistinguishable. Luz inched further down the stairs and towards the doorway, wanting to see what was happening. Perhaps Amity had moved away – perhaps she’d gone for a hug.

Luz peeked her head around the corner, to see Amity wrapped in one of Eda’s embraces. It was a little awkward – they were on opposite sides of a couch, and hadn’t thought to close that gap before hugging, but it still… did the trick, she supposed.

Luz couldn’t impose on that. She could go back upstairs – kill some time with homework, and pretending to be asleep. Or maybe she’d –

“Luz?” Eda asked, after a few seconds. “We know you’re there.”

Guiltily, Luz peeked her head back around the corner, properly this time. Eda had released Amity, but they weren’t on opposite sides of the couch now. “Sorry,” Luz said, coming fully into the doorway. “I didn’t want to interrupt, so…”

“You’re not an interruption,” Amity said as if it were obvious. As if she were surprised Luz would think that.

Luz laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “I interrupted, didn’t I? It doesn’t matter, anyway. We should eat.”

“Luz-“ Eda went to say, but Luz was already making her way to the kitchen.

“What?” She said, making sure she was out of sight as quickly as possible. “Hey, Amity? You want some toast?”

* * *

“How are you feeling this morning, sport?”

The walks to and from Hexside were becoming easier and easier to fill with conversation, but today Luz couldn’t keep her mind from straying to the previous day’s events. Amity seemed far more composed today – more like how she normally was.

“Besides the obvious?” Amity scoffed. “Well, other than the fact that the _Emperor’s Coven_ is now after me… I don’t know, I guess I’m all peachy.”

“Peachy?” Luz asked. “Amity – seriously.”

“You’re asking that question a lot.”

“Yeah, because I’m _worried.”_ Luz sighed. “I – you scared me, yesterday. Not you – just, that I didn’t notice, and then I couldn’t do anything.”

“Luz,” Amity turned to face her. “You have to trust that I’ll tell you if I need your help – but you also need to remember you can’t solve all my problems. You’re not meant to be some saviour. You’re meant to be my friend – which means you should stop treating me like I’m made of glass.”

“I’m not treating you like you’re made of glass.”

“You’re not?” Amity asked. “You baby me, Luz. I don’t need to be asked every five minutes whether I’m about to break down, or be supervised everywhere I go. If I need help, I’ll ask for it.”

“Like you asked for it yesterday?”

Amity’s eyes dropped. “That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Yes!” Amity said. Her voice had risen – not a shout, not yet. “It was too late – I couldn’t speak. Can you just not bring yesterday up anymore, please? It’s embarrassing.”

“Fine,” Luz exhaled. They continued to walk. “Sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Amity said, begrudgingly. “Not for what I said – I meant it. But it was kind of harsh.”

“Well then, I’m sorry for babying you. I’ll… back off a little.”

Amity shook her head. “It isn’t that – I like you being there for me. It’s just,” she sighed, “you need to find a balance. Not too little, but not too much.”

“Alright,” Luz said. “I’ll work on it.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

More quiet. Luz kicked at a rock on the path. They were getting closer to the school – she wanted to say something.

Maybe she did coddle Amity, a little. Treat her like a helpless, healing bird. Maybe Amity had already healed enough, but Luz was so focussed on the wound that she’d disregarded how small the cardboard box was.

And then they were at the steps of Hexside, and Willow and Gus were there, and so was Boscha – and they were greeted the same way they always were. Luz let herself fall into the ease of things, the ease of a newly-changed routine, that still reminisced some steps of the old one. Like how her conversation with Gus somehow opened up to Boscha in a weird way – and eventually, Amity and Willow piped in with their own input. Like how they made an extra stop at a locker now, because their friendship group had expanded.

Like how Luz checked on Amity periodically – and couldn’t help noticing how easily _she_ fit into the new routine, too. It was too good to be true.

“Amity?” She pulled her aside at the earliest convenience, before they got into class. “I just wanted to say, I’m really glad you’re here, and we’re friends, and everything. I don’t think I’ve said that to you before.”

Amity swallowed. “You haven’t,” she said.

“Oh,” Luz responded. “Well… now I have.”

“Thanks, Luz,” Amity said. “I’m glad we’re friends too.”

“Even though I baby you?”

“You don’t – it isn’t babying, it’s more like you’re a very overprotective parent.”

“That’s babying, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Hey, Boscha? What does ‘babying’ mean?”

“Why would you ask _Boscha?”_

“Hey!” Boscha piped in. “I resent that.”

“Seriously, though,” Amity looked to Luz. “I’m really glad we’re friends again.”

A spark in Luz’s chest – quelled as fast as she could. “Yeah,” Luz said. “Come on – it’s almost time for class.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and, that's that! now, i think it's time i did some explaining in regards to the last few chapters, and luz's/amity's mental states
> 
> \- amity, currently, ran away from home - we don't know why. we do know that her parents (and some of the emperor's coven) are looking for her, but are keeping it on the down-low. amity has been 'missing' for about two months, give or take - and she's lived in a couple different places, one of which being her library hideout. However, because the twins are both out of the house, done with Hexside and pursuing their own stuff, in the search for Amity, Mrs Blight found Ed's prank diary - and, in it, the location of Amity's 'hideout' (and general info: she goes there when she needs quiet, or wants to be alone, she feels safe there, etc.) obviously very valuable to the Blight parents, but horrible for Amity. Although this wasn't on purpose - how could Ed have known amity would run away, and they'd search his room, and so on and so forth? But Amity still can't help but feel sort of betrayed by this - which I feel is understandable.
> 
> \- amity's relationship with the twins remains a mystery. according to canon, she cares for them, but they viewed her as sort of stuck up (for a while, at least), and so she definitely feels a separation from them - like the two of them are one body, and she, alone, is the other. just... keep that in mind.
> 
> \- amity and maternal figures. wow, I wonder if there’s trauma there?
> 
> \- luz is fighting her own battles. she likes amity (she denies it, but she does - we all know it) and yet she can't stand the idea of amity changing up the dynamic she's grown to love in the Owl House. every time she feels a bad thought towards Amity, she ends up in a spiral of self-hate. she also feels like she can't confess, because she'd be taking advantage of amity, and it'd be a hero-complex (which is a pretty valid thing to think - if only she knew amity's been holding a flame for her for, like, 2+ years.) plus, every time she goes to-and-from the human world, she's hit with the 'i can't have both lives' dilemma - which is always fun. all of this adds up to an 'i'm a horrible person, i'd be a horrible partner, let's bottle it all up and it'll go away' mindset, which... isn't fun.
> 
> so... thoughts? comments? sorry for the essay - i don't know, some of you may like it, others may have just skimmed straight over. I hope you enjoyed!!!!
> 
> (also if you still haven't gotten any water AFTER i reminded you??? now's your chance. you got this.)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!!! i just wanted to say,,,, thank you so much for the support on this fic??? i realized i've been thinking it, but i never really put it into words - but oh my god, i appreciate every hit, kudo, comment, everything... it literally means the world to me. also, seeing we hit over 2000 kudos?? i had to lie down
> 
> hope you enjoy the chapter!! <3 chapter 12 is just one away

Life moved on. The Lilith-visit, after it was over, wasn’t really talked about any more than it had to be (they’d made a more in-depth plan about what to do if she showed up again that included Amity going far enough that she couldn’t see, or hear, Lilith’s voice. Days blurred into one another, passing faster than Luz would have liked them to – and then suddenly Amity had been her roommate for exactly a month.

Eda had said that they’d celebrate Amity’s ‘one-month-at-the-Owl-House-iversary’, and they did. There was a cake (slightly messy, courtesy of Luz’s human baking skills) and several Boiling Isles delicacies that Eda had gotten off the market that morning. They celebrated it like a birthday, minus the presents, and it felt… good.

Eda had attempted to speak to Luz alone on a few different occasions, but Luz had effectively avoided her every time – changing the topic, or making some excuse. For better or for worse, the tries to pull Luz aside, and have a serious parenting conversation, had dwindled into almost-extinction. And, sure – Luz missed Eda’s presence. But if that was what it cost to get her off her case, it was a small price to pay for everyone else’s happiness.

Luz didn’t – she didn’t matter, anyway. On the scale of things that were happening in other people’s lives, she wasn’t a priority. Eda, and Amity, and… everybody – they had their own problems to deal with. They couldn’t be bothered to take time out of their days to fix her.

And of course she missed Eda’s steadying presence – their hugs when Luz came in for school were shorter, now, when all Luz wanted to do was curl up in her arms. When Luz said goodnight, she yelled it from the top of the stairway, rather than coming down. Her life was busy, now, with imaginary tasks; work, and friends, and play, and everything that didn’t involve Eda.

It’d be fine, though. It always was. Maybe, eventually, Eda could forget, or drop it, and then they’d go back to normal. Luz liked normal.

* * *

It was Thursday night – and Thursdays meant that Luz and Amity were locked up in their room, packing human-world bags, usually worrying about last-minute homework they had to complete in order to have a free weekend. At first, Luz had done what she’d always done – used the exact same bag, with the exact same two outfits, for the human world, and just packed the stuff like her toothbrush at the last minute before they left. But now that Amity was there, Luz’s outfits tended to veer more into the fashion (as fashionable as she could be – Luz hadn’t found her fashion sense yet, and she resented it) than the comfort.

They’d been making light conversation – about the day’s events – when Amity paused. The room delved quickly into silence when one of them stopped moving, and after a moment, Luz paused too. “Amity?” She asked, turning away from her bag to look at her friend.

Amity was seated on the mattress, bag laid down besides her. “Sorry,” she said, a hand coming up to bite at her nail. “I was just… thinking.”

“Oh yeah?” Luz asked, taking a seat too. She’d been fretting over whether to take the purple hoodie, or the green one – but it could wait. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“…what?”

“Sorry. Human phrase. You want to share?”

Amity’s chest rose, and she let out a deep sigh. “I’m just…” she rubbed at a crease in between her eyebrows. “You ever think that maybe you don’t like boys?”

A beat passed. Luz blinked. “You mean you don’t like Gus?”

“No! I like Gus!” Amity hurried to say. “I just… I mean _like_ liking boys.”

Luz’s head was alight, running a mile a minute. “Oh,” she said, preening slightly at how smoothly her voice had come out. “So you think you like girls?”

Amity flinched at the words. “I didn’t say that.”

“I like boys,” Luz began, testing the waters, “but I also like girls. You think you might be like that?”

Amity gulped. “How did you figure it out?”

“I watched this human movie, when I was a kid – Pirates of the Caribbean. I’ll show it to you, maybe this weekend. But the girl was pretty, and the boy was pretty, too – so I thought, why choose?”

“Okay,” said Amity. She wasn’t looking at Luz – eyes trained onto the seams of the floorboards. “What if I don’t like boys… at all?”

“That’s totally fine!” Luz hurried to say. “It’s your choice.”

They lapsed back into silence, and Luz couldn’t help it when she felt her hands begin to fidget in her lap. “Is it bad to… to like girls… here?”

Amity shrugged. “In other places, I’m pretty sure it’s normal. But in places like here, nobody really talks about it? I don’t know. It’s weird.”

“It’s not weird,” Luz said. “In the human world, it’s normal, too. Well, mostly.”

“Mostly?” Amity asked.

“Yeah,” Luz continued. “Like – if you like the same gender, for most people it’s fine, but some people really don’t like it? There will always be people that get mad over it, of course – but it’s your identity, you know?”

“I guess the human world’s pretty similar, then,” Amity said. Luz nodded.

“Why did you bring it up?” She asked. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but…”

“It’s alright,” she said. “I just – I guess I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”

Luz’s brain skipped for a second – Amity liked girls, and Amity had been thinking about liking girls, and Luz had been thinking about liking _her,_ and Amity liked girls. “Okay.” She said. “Anything else you’ve been dying to ask me?”

“Yeah, actually,” Amity said. “You can like both?”

“What – boys and girls?” Luz asked. “Oh. Yeah, of course. Nobody defines your sexuality but you. Personally, I identify as bisexual – bi, being multiple genders.”

“Cool,” Amity said.

“Pretty cool, right?” Luz asked. “Once you’ve gotten over the homophobes – that’s the human world for people that don’t like gays – there’s a really awesome community. Hey; maybe I can play you girl in red?”

“Play me what?”

“It’s the – she makes music.” Luz explained. Her words were speeding up. “She’s kind of known for being a gay icon. Or maybe Hayley Kiyoko?”

“People write music about that?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s amazing.”

Amity nodded. “Thank you,” she said. “For… talking this out. With me.”

“Thank you for trusting me,” Luz said. “I’ll guard it with my heart.”

A small smile played on Amity’s lips – coy, and gorgeous. “You’d better,” she said.

“Wow. Someone’s bossy today.”

“I’m not – what?”

* * *

Luz woke late (because she woke later, now – late enough that running out of the door without enough time to speak to anybody else in the house was justified) on Friday morning, and with one last check of her bag, lugged Amity to school by her side. The morning passed quickly – she liked Friday’s, because she had Oracle classes all morning, and an Abomination one with Amity in the afternoon. So, the time passed quickly.

Everything was fine – until it began to rain, just before lunch.

“This _sucks,”_ Luz said, head resting on her hand. They were sat on a tiny portion of table in the school’s overcrowded lunch area – the kids that would usually spend their lunch hour out on the Grudgby field forced to stay inside. “Why is there rain today?”

“It’s rainy season,” Gus said, biting into one of his sandwiches. “It’ll probably have stopped by the time we go home.”

“Yeah, but – “

“We know, Luz,” Willow said, nudging into her with her shoulder. “You don’t like the rain. You say it every time.”

“I can’t help it,” Luz said. “Don’t you guys hate it, too?”

“I don’t mind it,” said Gus. “It’s really pretty!”

“But it _burns_ everything,” Luz said. “Including houses – including people.”

“Well, yeah. But right before it hits the ground, when it’s falling, and the light hits it just right; that’s pretty.”

Luz moved slightly, to look out the window. The rain was a pretty colour, she supposed – a sort of light pink, almost white. “Do you get rainbows here?” Luz asked. “I – I never thought to look.”

“Heck yeah, we do!” Willow said. “Humans have rainbows, too?”

Luz nodded. “Well,” she said with a pout. “I still think it’s a bad omen.”

Gus groaned, and began eating again. Luz’s eyes began to wander around the crowded room, scanning for familiar faces in amongst the hoards. She supposed they could always retreat to an empty classroom to eat, but no doubt most people who could have, would have already come up with that idea.

Her eyes caught on green hair – Amity. Standing next to… Boscha.

“Hey,” Willow poked a finger into Luz’s cheek, startling her slightly. “What are you looking at?”

“Amity and Boscha,” Luz admitted. “They’re over there – look.”

Amity turned her head just as Luz’s hand dropped, and Luz offered Amity a thumbs up – which Amity returned. “You spotted her quickly,” Willow commented. “Jealous?”

“Jealous?” Luz asked. “Of what?”

“Boscha.” Willow said. “Boscha spending time with Amity.”

Luz shook her head – if she was jealous of her friends, it would get her nowhere (plus, Amity was a free person, an Luz got to spend one-on-one time with her more than everybody else combined.) “Just thinking,” she said. “How did we become friends with Boscha?”

“You and Boscha aren’t close, huh,” said Willow. “Well – me and her were put on the Grudgby team together, and then her mom met by dad’s, and we started hover-sharing to school.” She stopped talking, noting how Luz wasn’t really paying attention anymore.

Amity’s eyes had left Luz’s – but Luz hadn’t looked away. “She’s a good person, you know,” Willow said. “She apologised for all the stuff she said.”

“I know, but…” Luz wrinkled her nose. “You know what I’m saying, right, Gus?”

Gus was wiping his mouth, having finished the sandwich. “Yeah!” He said, mouth half-full. “What are we talking about?”

“Boscha,” Willow filled him in, and Gus nodded.

“Yeah – she’s chill now,” he said. “She came to Human Appreciation Society a couple of times, too. I think she’s really trying.”

“Well, if you guys trust her…” Luz shrugged.

“Don’t you trust her? You told her Amity wasn’t staying at home.”

“Well, yeah – but… I don’t know. Different kinds of trust.”

* * *

“Bye, Eda,” Luz says with a hug that’s tight, but fleeting. They’re just about ready to go – Eda and Camilia have had their usual stare-off (Eda had given Camilia some leftovers from their one-month-iversary, and Camilia had promised passive-aggressively that she’d make her a tres leches cake by the end of the weekend.)

Eda’s arms reached to find Luz’s shoulders, but she’d already pulled back. “Alright,” said Luz, rolling her shoulders and picking up her bag. “Ready, Amity?”

“Yeah,” Amity said from behind her. Amity still got a little nervous around Camilia (Camilia, her mother, who was nothing but warm hugs and vanilla-scented perfume – Luz knew it wasn’t her place to judge, but her heart still twinged whenever there was a visible reminder of Amity’s pre-Owl House days.) “Um, hello, Mrs Noceda.”

“Hi, Amity,” said her mom, eyes dark and warm. “You two coming?”

“Don’t forget me!” King’s little voice called from the hallway. King had been insisting on visiting the human realm for months, now – but nobody had the heart to tell him that he freaked Camilia out, a little. Last week, she’d finally caved (under the impression that he would be with either Luz or Amity the entire time) – so King had been celebrating and fretting over what to bring to the human realm all week. He’d ended up with a little pack of Hexes Hold’em, and a book on the demon race, in case Camilia was interested.

“We could never!” Luz said. “But hurry up.”

“Bye Eda!” King called, rushing past her and straight into the human realm. “Come on, Luz! I want to see the human realm!”

Luz nodded, walking through the doorway – and turning just in time to see Amity pulling away from an equally short hug from Eda, and hurry through the doors. “See you, Camilia!” Eda saluted with two fingers and a wink, before turning away.

“Bye!” Camilia called, but the door was already closed. “Ugh, that woman. Anyway – hi, girls. How were your weeks?”

* * *

It was easy, Luz thought, to fall back on conversation with her mom. It was getting colder in the human realm with every visit – winter approached fast, after all. They’d need to start bringing extra layers in a couple of weeks. But with the easy conversation came the easy routine – with the slight distraction of a literal demon that refused to do anything without being carried around in Luz’s arms, “for the vantage point.”

“I need to see as much of the human world as I can!” He’d said, crossing his adorable little arms over his chest. “And you’re perfectly tall. Just carry me!”

“Alright,” Luz had responded, scratching at the fur under his skull. “Just because you’re such a snuggle-muffin.”

Now, Luz (accompanied by King on her shoulder, and Amity by her side in that dark green beanie that covered her ears) was lounging in the garden, waiting for food to be ready, pointing out the stars. “I didn’t even think about constellations being different there,” she said. “But that one’s called Pegasus – you see it’s a little like a horse?”

Amity followed Luz’s pointer finger with her gaze, shaking her head. “That’s supposed to look like a Pegasus? But it’s just stars.”

“You have to connect the dots. Imagine.” Luz moved her finger. “How about that one? It’s a dragon.”

“I see a dragon!” King said from on her shoulder. “I think – it’s so glow-y!”

“Exactly!” Luz chuckled. “Hey – Amity, come over here. So you can line your gaze up better.”

Amity scooted over, slightly, until they were a little less than an arm’s width from each other. Luz pulled her closer, and their shoulders knocked together. “Look,” Luz said, picking up Amity’s hand and fashioning it into a point, before she lifted it up into the air. “That star, and… follow it down there. And then…”

She completed the constellation. “You see?” She laughed, slightly, letting their conjoined hands drop down into Amity’s lap. “Dragon.”

Amity was looking at her, silently – and Amity was close. Close enough that Luz could see that her eyes resembled molten gold, warm and fiery – and her eyelashes were thick and dark. She could feel Amity’s warm breath against her own cheeks. She was holding her hand. She was – if she just got a little closer…

“Girls?” Camilia called from the house. “Food’s ready!”

They sprung apart as if they’d been electrocuted – Amity standing so quickly Luz could barely imagine she’d been sat besides her a moment earlier. King was jostled, and dug his sharp claws into Luz’s shoulder, which earnt him a hiss that she couldn’t be bothered to care about. Luz swallowed; her throat was dry. “Food,” she said. “I… forgot about that.”

Amity headed into the house, leaving Luz and King sat on the grass, alone. Luz watched her retreat – listening to the light footfalls against the grass. The wind was a gentle accompaniment to the song of the silence, and it bit at her exposed skin, desperate to crawl into the heart she was preserving. She let out a long sigh.

“Hey, King.” Luz said, out into the open air and the moon. “Could Amity have feelings for me?”

“Of course Amity has feelings for you!” King said. Luz’s heart stopped. “If she had no feelings for you, you’d be strangers! Now, take me over to where the food is.”

Luz stood, slowly, mumbling a, “that’s not what I meant,” as she checked for mud on her clothes.

Accompanied by King’s excitement, they went into the house, taking seats at the table (Luz tried not to think about Amity running away as she sat down, ditching her outer layer in the warmth. But they were sitting opposite each other, and their eyes kept meeting.)

“I am very excited about eating,” King said, walking across the table to his own plate, placed slightly to the side of Luz’s. “Eda’s cooking is terrible!”

Camilia snorted out an undignified laugh as she placed the pot down. “Would you say that again, so I can get it on record?” She asked. “Tonight, we’re having stew.”

“Oh, boy!” King exclaimed. “That sounds amazing! What’s a stew?”

Her mom took her seat, reaching over to lift the top off the stew pot. “Help yourselves, everyone.”

Luz went first – serving King, and then serving herself. King ate as he always did – messily and yet somewhat endearingly, getting food all over his paws and arms. “It’s so good!” He exclaimed. “I didn’t know Humans had such abilities with cooking.”

“King, you’re getting it all over you,” Amity chastised. “Wipe yourself off.”

“A King never worries about appearances!” King declared, continuing to eat.

Luz rolled her eyes – typical King, really. “Amity, can you pass the towel?”

Amity looked to her side, grabbing the towel and handing it to Luz, who used it to dab at King’s mess. “Hey!” King protested. “I’m eating here!”

Camilia laughed from her position at the head of the table. “You know,” she said, “he is like an unruly child – and you two are his parents.”

Luz froze, meeting her mom’s eyes for a moment, before diverting them back to her plate and thanking whatever Gods and Spirits above that she wasn’t white enough to blush. The towel was put down – surrendered, if you will – as she continued to eat.

“Why would you say that?” She asked.

“What?” Her mom laughed. “I didn’t mean to offend you, _cariña.”_

“You didn’t,” Luz said, although the words came out gruffier than she’d expected them too. “Eat less messily, King,” she instructed, before bowing her head and continuing to eat her own food, in silence.

The next time she looked up, it was to her mother raising a suspicious eyebrow, looking between her and Amity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!!! so... this is the second thank you note, because I LITERALLY LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR READING WSOFKDF
> 
> honestly, it was kind of hard to find the motivation to write this chapter (i've kind of fallen into updating every second sunday - but as you guys can see, this one's a little late) but she's here!!!! let me know your thoughts, or predictions, or even weird headcanons that have nothing to do with my fic in particular (i'll start: i never officially confirmed it, but camilia calls amity conejita, which means 'bunny girl', because of amity's ears.)
> 
> and once again, thank you for reading!!!!!!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: let's explore mental health in a healthy way because most people have had some experience with it, and it's nice to do the bare minimum of talking about your feelings <3  
> y'all: omg the mental health portrayal is the BEST I'VE EVER READ <333 omg it's amazing
> 
> ...if you want to talk about it, i'm here??
> 
> ANYWAY - i hope you all had a wonderful hanukkah/christmas/new year/whatever you celebrate!!!! i've dived deep into a mcyt hyperfixation, and have done absolutely no work - which is fun <3
> 
> hope you enjoy!!!!

“I had a dream,” Luz said, first thing in the morning. “About Amity and I.”

She was in her human bedroom – which meant being alone, save for King’s little cartoonish snores. Her curtains did little to block the daylight seeping through the windows and onto her floor. She stood. The bite of the floorboards crept into her bones.

“I had a dream,” Luz repeated, walking over to her wardrobe. “About yesterday.”

The dream had been about yesterday – they’d stargazed, and Amity had been a welcome warmth, tucked into Luz’s side, and they’d stared up at the stars until they were staring at each other, and then…

“It wasn’t real,” she said quietly.

“What wasn’t real?” A voice – aching in its familiarity – came from behind her. Luz spun to face Amity in the doorway, her head tilted ever so slightly to one side.

“Nothing!” Luz said. “I just – had a weird dream.”

Amity’s lips quirked upwards. “And you’re speaking to yourself about it?”

“Sometimes it helps to narrate things,” Luz said. “It un-jumbles the thoughts.”

“Okay,” said Amity. “What was the dream about?”

Luz froze. “Nothing. Why are you here?”

“You’re up late, and your mom asked me to come and get you. We have a big day of human world-ing ahead, right?”

“Right,” Luz said. “I’ll be down in a second, then. I just have to wake up King.”

They stood there, a moment longer. Her feet were cold, against the peeking light of the windows that looked to be so warm.

“Okay, then,” Amity eventually said, straightening herself up. “I’ll be downstairs.”

Amity closed the door gently behind her, leaving Luz to turn back around and promptly bang her head into her wardrobe. “It was a _dream,”_ she groaned to herself. “Snap out of it, Noceda.”

A beat. A clap of her hands against her face, harsh and focusing. “I need to get dressed,” she said. “I need to forget about it.”

She opened the closet, grabbing the first thing that she saw, and turned back to see King. Usually the sight of him would immediately cheer her up – but she was distracted today. She needed to stop thinking about these things. Wasn’t it kind of creepy to create fantasies about a person who doesn’t want to be with you?

“King,” she said, walking over. “Wake up, little buddy.”

She shook King’s shoulder gently, and King’s eyes opened. “Morning, Luz,” he said more pep than you’d expect, first thing in the morning. “Where’s my skull?”

“Over there,” she pointed to her desk, turning around again. “I’m going to the bathroom to get dressed, okay? I’ll come and get you in a minute, and we’ll go downstairs.”

“Sounds good!”

Luz went into the bathroom, changing quickly, the heat of her face an unwelcome discomfort. She groaned, slapping some cold water onto her cheeks, and glared at herself in the mirror.. Today of all days… when she’d have to spend the entire day with Amity, she had to go and have a dream about kissing her. She wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it.

“It’s fine,” she said, standing. She turned off the tap. “It’s all fine. I’m calm. I’m normal.”

“Morning!” Her mom greeted as Luz came down the stairs, King trailing behind her. “Did you sleep well?”

“The best,” Luz said, taking a seat on the kitchen counter. “I was thinking I’d take Amity around to see some things – she really likes libraries, and I promised I’d take her to that one coffee shop down the street.”

Her mom nodded, as she turned the gas off, lifting the food onto its own plate. “Sounds good. I have a shift this afternoon, until late – but you can order a pizza, maybe? Oh – and take her to see your treehouse.”

“That’s a good idea,” Luz said. “I wanted to show her the treehouse, too – he said he’s never seen one before.”

“It’s just so practical!” King said from his spot besides Luz. “The foundation is already there – you just have to build _around_ the tree! Humans are geniuses.”

“Thank you, King,” Camilia chuckled. “Luz – go get Amity.”

“Where is she?”

“Watching the TV.”

Luz nodded, leaving King behind with a fond pat to the head. “Amity?” She called. “You coming?”

“One second,” came the response, weakened by the wall in between them.

Luz passed through the doorway, to see Amity sat on the couch, legs tucked underneath her, watching a cartoon that sparked some ancient recognition in Luz. “Oh, Loony Tunes!” She moved to take a seat besides Amity. “I remember those.”

“You never told me animals could speak here, too,” Amity said.

“They can’t.” Luz said. “It’s just a TV show.”

“Why would you _want_ animals to speak?” Amity asked. “I mean – they’re all evil! They’re all so mean to us.”

“Well in the human world, animals are our friends – usually.”

“Exactly. Why would you want to ruin that?”

“I don’t know,” Luz shrugged. “I guess it’s funny. Come on, we’re eating.”

“But-“ Amity turned to Luz, and suddenly their faces were closer than before. “Also, why draw them? Doesn’t that take forever without magic?”

Luz sighed, standing. “Write your questions down, and I’ll address them in front of the whole Human Appreciation Society. Now, come on. Aren’t you hungry?”

* * *

“This is boring,” Amity said, five minutes into their venture. They’d entered the library – and Luz had been half trying to follow Amity around as she ran excitedly through the shelves, half trying to stuff King back into her bag so that he’d stay hidden from humans that would freak out if they saw him.

“What do you mean?” Luz asked. “It’s a library! You love libraries.”

“It’s exactly the same as the Boiling Isles library – only your fantasy section is tiny, and inaccurate.” Amity frowned. “Is there anything special about it?”

“It’s a library,” Luz half-chuckled. “There never was anything special about it.”

Amity frowned. “Well, okay. That’s boring.”

“You’re so mean all of a sudden,” Luz observed, crossing her arms over her chest. More like… old Amity. Pre-Owl House Amity. “What do you have against libraries?”

“I don’t have anything against them!” Amity’s voice rose as she defended herself, earning them a shushing from one of the patrons. “I just… I thought there’d be something interesting in a human one.”

“Why?” Luz laughed. “It’s just a library.”

“But it’s _human.”_

“And?”

Amity groaned. “You’re just baiting me, now. Where else did you plan to take me?”

“Who says I planned to take you anywhere else?” Luz asked. “Maybe this was my whole day. Come on – you really don’t like it?”

Amity spared a moment to look around, turning a full circle. “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s basic.”

“Well that’s just rude,” Luz said. “King – oh my god, stop.”

“I want to see the basic library, too!” King said from inside her bag, far too loudly. “Let me out!”

“You’d literally scare everyone to death, King. You’re a demon.”

“Aww,” Amity pouted teasingly. “I think you should let him out. He just wants to explore, Luz.”

Luz’s eyes caught on Amity’s lips. “Yeah!” King exclaimed from inside her bag. “I just want to explore.”

“That –“ Luz let out a harsh sigh. “That’s dumb. No. We’re leaving now.”

“Where are we going?” King asked. “I wanted to see the library!”

“Shut up, King!” Luz said to her bag (which probably looked really strange from an outsider’s perspective – whatever, she didn’t live there most of the time.) “We’re going somewhere else, alright?”

* * *

“You don’t have any human money, Amity, how do you expect to buy it?”

They were in a clothing store, and Amity had found the beanies section. “I like this colour!” She said, pointing to the purple. “And I’ve been wearing this green one every day for a month.”

“It looks good, though,” Luz said, hoping her voice came out friendly rather than… you know. “Why change it if it works?”

“Because I want variation,” Amity said. “I’ll steal it.”

“No you won’t!” Luz said. “Oh my god. Rich kids. You really think you could steal?”

“I mean, how hard can it be?” Amity asked. “They do it all the time in your human movies.”

“Yeah, well that’s fake. Come on – if you really want it, we’ll come back tomorrow with human money.”

Amity sighed overdramatically. “Okay,” she said.

“Then let’s go home,” Luz said, turning to exit the store. “My feet hurt.”

“Wait,” Amity said. “Your bag is open.”

They both stopped walking, and Luz pulled her bag off her back – checking it. “King’s missing,” she said to Amity.

“Well, where could he be?”

“We had him in the coffee shop… and you were talking to him when we walked in here. So he escaped in the last ten minutes.”

Amity turned a full circle. “King?” She ventured, voice quiet.

“He won’t hear you like that,” Luz muttered.

“I’m trying to be subtle – don’t want all the humans to know we set a demon loose,” Amity said back. “King?” She said again, a little louder.

Luz’s eyes dropped to the floor, searching for little clawed paws amongst the human shoes and the clothes racks. “How could we have lost him?” Luz asked. “I zipped the bag shut.”

“It’s not worth thinking about,” Amity said to her. “Point is, he got out. King?”

“Wait –“ Luz grabbed one of Amity’s arms, pointing to one of the display racks. “You see that?”

They both looked down, to see movement from one display to another. “That little rascal,” Amity mumbled. “Let’s get him.”

It’s surprisingly difficult to walk quickly whilst pretending to be casual, so several steps in, Luz abandons the façade all together, chasing after King. “Come here, you heathen!” She called, rounding a corner to where she saw him and catching him darting off again. “Oh, my god.”

Amity cut a corner, and between the two of them, King was stuck. “What?” He asked after a second of contemplating his options. “I told you I wanted to explore.”

“Yeah, well you can’t,” said Luz, placing her open bag in front of King. “Get in – unless you want a whole trail of human strangers thinking you’re the cutest thing in the world, and wanting to hug you.”

King groaned, but got back in the bag. “How’d you know that would work?” Amity asked.

“King only likes hugs from friends,” Luz explained. “I learnt that when I met him for the first time – been using it to my advantage ever since.”

“Your mom was right,” Amity said. “I feel like we’re his parents, and he’s a kid causing trouble.”

“Yeah,” Luz laughed awkwardly. “Um – we should go home, now. That was way too much action for one day! Give him less… opportunity.”

“Alright,” Amity said. Luz scooped up the bag, zipping it almost-shut and sliding it on. “That’s… a good idea, I guess.”

“Aw,” Luz smiled. “Don’t look so bummed, Amity. I’ll show you my treehouse.”

* * *

They’d left King in the house, watching an anime movie, when Luz pulled Amity away to go and see the treehouse. The sun was low in the sky, threatening to set within the hour, and it was cold enough that they’d done nothing but shiver on the way to the ladder.

“You afraid of bugs?” Luz asked as she climbed the first few rungs of the ladder. “There might be some in here – it’s been a while since I’ve been in.

“No,” Amity said from below her.

“Alright,” Luz said back – before pushing the trapdoor open and climbing in.

It was almost exactly as she’d left it – two beanbags, a now-tiny slightly lopsided bench, dust and leaves all over the floor. “This is it,” Luz said as Amity peeked her head in. “The treehouse.”

“It’s very small,” Amity said. “Humans live in these?”

“Well – most of the time they’re just for kids to play in. And the ones you live in are way larger, anyway.”

“Alright,” Amity said. “So… what did you used to do?”

Luz plopped herself into a beanbag, sending a cloud of dust upwards. “I don’t know,” she said. “Play make-believe? I used to pretend I was a knight, and this was my castle, being attacked.”

Amity placed herself on the other beanbag, lips quirking upwards. “Cute,” she said. “Who were you defending?”

“The princess,” Luz said. “Or – just the castle? I don’t know.”

“Okay,” Amity said. Her voice was soft – Luz leant in slightly to hear her. “What about this treehouse made you think it was worth defending?”

Luz pulled back. So she was snarky today. “You’re so mean!” Luz said, pretending to faint over her beanbag and into Amity’s lap dramatically. “This knight has been slain by your words.”

“No,” Amity chuckled.

“No? You expect me to rise from the dead because you said ‘no’?” Luz was giggling too, now. Amity’s legs were warm underneath her head – soft, too. “Alright – I’m alive again. What can I do for you, princess?”

She was met with an owlish blink. “Princess?” Amity asked.

“Well, yeah,” Luz’s smile turned bashful. “You’re the only other one here.”

Amity nodded. With her looking down at Luz like that, there was no way to escape her gaze. Luz felt her face heating up. “Okay. I don’t mind being the princess.”

“Good,” Luz said. “You know, you’re very comfortable.”

“What?”

Luz pulled herself up from Amity’s lap until she was sat on her beanbag again, turning away for a moment. “Nothing. Anyway.” She cleared her throat, hands clasping together on her lap before she did anything stupid with them. “What do you want to do?”

Amity shrugged. “It’s your treehouse.”

“Yeah, well you’ve seen it all, now – it was pretty small.”

The words left Luz’s lips, and they fell into silence. Luz was looking at Amity – there was orange-y light pouring in.

“Doesn’t that beanie get uncomfortable?” Luz asked, scooting closer so she could pull it off of Amity’s head. “It probably gets warm, right?”

“I guess,” Amity said. Her hair was all over the place, now – she reached up, beginning to brush pieces of it back down with her fingers. “I don’t mind.”

Their knees were touching. Luz was sure her gaze was intense – she couldn’t help but watch as Amity’s movements slowed, until she’d stopped combing through her hair all together. “Luz?” She asked, voice barely a whisper. She watched as Amity’s mouth shaped her name.

Luz found herself beginning to lean in. She looked into Amity’s eyes for a moment – watched as they slid shut – leant in further.

Amity’s breath skated across Luz’s cheeks, and Luz licked her lips, looking back at Amity’s. She’d – Gods, she’d _dreamt_ about kissing Amity. This couldn’t be real.

Since she realized her feelings (and perhaps before), all she’d done was think about kissing Amity. She’d wanted it so desperately – she’d crafted a thousand scenarios in which they had their first kiss.

What if she was crafting the signals here, too?

She had to be – why would Amity like her? They were friends. Luz was seeing the signs because she wanted them to be there. There was no way Amity wanted to kiss her right now… which meant Amity was probably very uncomfortably waiting for Luz to back off.

Oh, Gods. Luz was making moves on someone who didn’t consent. Amity would hate her after this.

Luz cleared her throat, and the sound was loud against the deafening quiet. “So…” she said. “Um – I also used to learn about the constellations up here. Read all these books from the library…”

It was harder than she thought to look away from Amity and to the window, but she was glad she’d done so as she continued to babble. “I must’ve got, like, twelve books out this one time – and I read half of one and got bored. It’s a good thing my mom wanted to read them too me later, because then I never would have realized my love for them.”

She didn’t look back at Amity. Amity didn’t interrupt.

“And now, obviously, I know a load about constellations!” Luz clapped her hands together, wincing at the harsh sound it made. “So… it all worked out in the end, I guess I’m trying to say.”

“Okay,” Amity’s voice was harsher than it had been before. Colder. “It’s freezing. Can we go inside?”

“Oh, sure,” Luz said. “Um – you can go first, then?”

Amity took the invitation, climbing down the ladder, leaving Luz alone in the treehouse. Luz squeezed her eyes shut.

“Shit,” she whispered. “Oh my god, Luz. You’ve messed everything up.”

She took another moment to curse herself out before grabbing the ladder and climbing down. Amity was already disappearing into the house by the time Luz reached the bottom of the ladder, and she let out another curse.

She’d really gone and ruined everything – their whole month of work towards becoming friends, gone. She was a horrible person.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to tell somebody – share the guilt. She wanted to be swallowed whole by the ground, never to be seen again.

* * *

“Mom?” Luz asked. “Can I talk to you?”

Camilia paused. “Of course, mija. Come, take a seat. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Luz said. “I just… wanted to talk to you about something.”

Luz meandered over, taking a seat on the couch next to her mother. She paused, eyes dropping down to her lap, where her hands were fidgeting aimlessly.

“Is it the TDAH?” Her mom asked, a concern that sparked butterflies in Luz’s stomach laced in her voice. “Is it getting bad again?”

“No – no, not that,” Luz said. “Mom, I like girls.”

She forced her hands into stillness on her lap, eyes squeezing shut to avoid whatever her mom’s reaction would be. “And boys,” she said, “just to clarify… but I like both.”

“Alright,” her mom said. “Well… thank you for telling me.”

“You’re not mad?” Luz looked up.

“Of course not. I love you, Luz.”

Luz’s lip trembled, slightly, and she jumped at the opportunity when her mom opened her arms. “I thought you’d be mad at me,” she said honestly.

“Well… if I’m telling the truth, I had my suspicious?”

“What?”

Camilia laughed. “You used to come home from school every day and tell me about all the beautiful girls in your class, _mija_. You weren’t very subtle.”

“But – I did?” Luz asked. “Wow.”

Camilia pulled Luz into a tighter hug, placing a kiss to the crown of her head. “I love you,” she repeated. “Is there any reason why you’re telling me this, though?”

“Well…” Luz let her head fall until it hit her mom’s shoulder, letting out a sigh. “I sort of have a crush on Amity.”

Her mother hummed. “I suspected that, too.”

Luz poked at her, earning an indignant, ‘hey!’, before she settled back into the embrace. “She’s… so pretty, and I like her a lot. But I’m worried now isn’t the time for feelings, because she’s sort of dealing with her own stuff, you know?”

“You’ve thought about this a lot,” Camilia observed. “I’m proud of you for being mature.”

“But?”

“Give me a moment, _mija,_ I’m thinking.”

“Alright,” Luz said, taking the moment to bury her face into her mother’s shoulder a little more. Missing her mother came in waves – and right now, buried in her embrace, it was easy to remember the longing that sometimes overtook her to be with her mom again, rather than separated by an entire dimension. There wasn’t anything quite like the comfort of her presence – the time they spent together before the Boiling Isles, spending every day together and yet never letting whatever disagreements they had get in the way of their irreplaceable bond.

“I think,” she said, after a while, “that you should let Amity make that decision for herself.”

“What decision?” Luz asked.

“Whether she’s ready for dating. If she isn’t – fine, at least you tried. But… _e_ _l amor todo lo puede_.”

“Woah, woah,” Luz backed away for a moment, to look her mom in the eyes. “Who said anything about love?”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Camilia placed a hand on Luz’s shoulder, squeezing gently. Luz wanted to melt into the contact. “You should at least try – you never know.”

“But –“ Luz stopped abruptly, shocked that tears were pricking at her eyes. “I think I ruined it today. We almost kissed, and then I pulled away – and now…”

“Hey,” Camilia squeezed Luz’s shoulder again. “ _Mija…”_

 _“Lo siento,”_ Luz said.

“No,” Camilia pulled Luz into her chest again, running her fingers through her hair. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everything will be okay.”

* * *

Luz’s feet were heavy as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Her bones felt like lead, and her head pounded behind her eyes. She was sure it looked like she’d been crying – but other than wiping the tears, she couldn’t find it within her to care.

She was tired. And, perhaps if she slept, all her problems would dissipate.

Reaching the stairs, she made a beeline for her bedroom – when the spare room’s door cracked open. “Amity?” Luz said half-heartedly, voice coming out croaky.

Amity peeked through the crack she’d made, watching Luz with weary eyes. Luz gulped – and offered her a thumbs up.

The door shut again before she’d gotten an answer. Her fault. Luz wanted to curl up into a ball, and die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TDAH - Trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad (ADHD in Spanish – what Camilia calls it because she did her research when Luz got her diagnosis.)  
> El amor todo le puede - Spanish proverb, ‘love finds a way.’ Camilia’s really turning into iroh, huh.  
> I’ll say it first – I believe in snarky Amity supremacy – I love when the homegirl feels like she can be herself around people she trusts, and lets that side of herself show.
> 
> Alright, a quick note on Luz’s mental state here. We all know daydreaming/making scenarios about your crush is normal behaviour – but as far as we know in canon, all Luz’s previous crushes have been entirely superficial (she was 14 when she came to the Boiling Isles, and before that it’s sort of stated that she was too ‘weird’ to have friends that lasted – leading to all her crushes being very minimal). Therefore, her crushing on Amity, having dreams, thoughts every time she sees her, etc – Luz thinks she’s not normal. Plus, she’s a self-sacrificing dumbass – so she goes on to call herself a ‘creep.’ Harsh, but understandable.
> 
> The kiss – imagine thinking you’re a creep for having a crush on someone, and then believing that you’re taking complete advantage of them, and the only reason they’re not pulling away is because it could have serious consequences for them? That is pretty douchey – if only Luz could open her eyes and realize she’s totally wrong about it. However – still understandable.
> 
> Nobody’s outright said it, but I just wanted to clarify that Luz is a dumbass, so she takes everything too far, but there is some semblance of logic behind her madness. But anyway – thoughts on this chapter??? I over-hyped it a little, but it’s a turning point!!!! You’ll see why in the next chapters ;)
> 
> Leave me kudos and comments <3333 I love you all SO MUCH and thank you for reading!!!!!!!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity Interlude I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, loves. here's a long one for you. i hope you enjoy <3

Nobody told Amity Blight that she’d have to spend her whole life worried about other people’s perceptions of her. It was the sort of thing she assumed she’d receive a warning about – when you’re young all you have are other people’s words to prop you up and prepare you for the real world. Amity always thought she’d have someone there, to help her – like everybody else.

She knows, now, that that was a naïve thought.

She is six, and it’s her first day at Hexside, and everybody is talking, but not to her. Amity doesn’t understand; her parents had told her that being quiet is good, and she’d do well – whatever that meant – if she could stay that way.

She gets put into a seat next to a vibrant girl with circular glasses and a bush of hair. “I’m Willow!” The girl says – loud enough to receive a scolding. “What’s your name?”

“Amity,” says Amity, because it’s courteous to respond when you’re directly addressed.

Willow smiles, unrestrained and joyful. “Do you like mangaya fruit? It’s my favourite, and my dads said that if I was good today, I could have it when I get home!”

This is confusing – Willow hasn’t been ‘good.’ She’s been loud and disruptive. Amity doesn’t say this. Instead, she says, “I’ve never had it.”

Behind the circular frames, Willow’s eyes widen like saucers. “You haven’t?” She asks. “But it’s so good!”

Amity doesn’t know how to respond to that. So she doesn’t.

“Maybe my dads will let me bring some in, for you,” Willow continues. “They wanted me to make a friend, and I did!” She falls silent, for a moment, and despite the hum of other activity around the classroom, Amity feels uncomfortable. “We are friends, right?”

“Yes,” Amity says. She wants a friend, too – and Willow is nice and pretty and confident, if a little loud.

“Cool!” Willow exclaims. And then she does the weirdest thing – she reaches over and _hugs_ Amity. “I’m so glad we’re friends,” Willow titters on, but Amity is frozen to her seat. Why is a part of her uncomfortable with this?

Why is a part of her… not?

At break, they build sandcastles besides each other, and make up a story about who lives inside. At lunch, they’re served different trays – but this doesn’t bother Willow, who offers Amity some of her mashed potato if she can try some of ‘that green stuff’ (“avocado,” Amity informs softly, but Willow doesn’t pause her talking long enough to hear her.) At the end of the day, Willow hugs her again, before running off to her parents.

Amity catches a glance of the two men that embrace a running Willow in their arms, warmth on their faces as they pick her up and begin to pester her with questions. It’s inaudible – she’s too far behind – but Willow and her family seem happy.

“Miss Blight,” her driver calls, and Amity climbs into the hover-car, letting the door be shut behind her. She looks out the window as it begins to move – watches, as they drive past Willow and her dads, who are still smiling even though to their knowledge, nobody’s watching them.

The drive to the Blight Manor is short – they’ve got the best design of hover-car after all – and Amity enters the house quietly. As always, her house is silent; as she slips her shoes off and adjusts her brand-new uniform, preparing to go straight up to her bedroom until she’s called down to eat.

As she walks through the halls, she catches a door half-opened – the door to her living room. Inside, the twins are stood, arms outstretched to either side, both hands holding a pile of her father’s thick books, trembling. It’s a few weeks off of their eighth birthday, and they always tend to make the most trouble before being forced into doing something they don’t like. Ed’s face is red with exertion, and his eyebrows are pinched together, but his stance remains strong.

Em is having a harder time. She always does, when they land themselves in these kinds of situations. She has a book on her head that’s shaking, teetering. There’s a shine to her eyes that isn’t usually there – a wetness that only comes with unspoken frustration.

“Now, now, Emira,” their mother’s cold voice comes from somewhere Amity doesn’t care to try and look for. “You know if you drop that book, we’ll all start over. That wouldn’t be very fun, would it?”

“Yes, mother,” Emira gasps out, spine straightening. The shaking doesn’t stop.

Amity sighs, moving towards the stairs. It’s a sight she’s seen countless times before, and one she doesn’t care to see again. At first it had been confusing – now, she understood.

“Amity,” her father greets just as she reaches the bottom of the stairs. “How was your first day at Hexside?”

Amity regards her father like she regards everybody – looking for signs that indicate his mood. With her father, this is always easy, because his anger tends to take over his body like a wild boar, leading to tension all the way up his back and into his neck.

She sees none of this today, so she responds, “good.”

“That’s nice.” Alador says. “Have you seen your mother since you got in?”

Amity shakes her head. “Alright,” he says, and walks past her. She makes her way up the rest of the stairs, entering her bedroom.

Her family won’t ask – but she’ll know, and she’ll cherish. She made her first friend today.

* * *

As Amity grows up, she takes quiet note of everything her older siblings do that seem to anger her parents. They’ve taken to being ‘troublemakers’, as her father calls them when he’s in a good mood, and trying to calm his wife down. When they’re both angry, the word isn’t quite so nice.

They take the illusion track – her mother dislikes that. They make friends with everybody, which her parents frown upon. They pull ‘pranks’, that get bigger as the years go on, until they’re being sent home from school, and Amity comes home every day to a closed living room door and her mother’s voice, seeping through the frame.

Except, the more notes she takes about what not to do, the further she strays from them. They become a separate entity to her – two halves of the same whole, that she’ll never fit in with. They’ve already cemented their dynamic. They had each other long before she showed up, and who’s she to interrupt? Amity minds, of course, but she won’t say anything. It’s better to survive than to be close with her siblings.

They begin calling her ‘mittens’, because for her last birthday she got a pair from Odalia, and when they tried to prank her, they stole them – and she exploded at them. After Amity gets her gloves back, she starts to think it’s a nickname. That surely means they’re getting closer, right?

So, Amity lets the twins in, and they pour a bucket of red paint over her head at school and get her sent home, uniform ruined. She learns to trust carefully and fleetingly.

Home – if she can even call the Blight Manor that – becomes a warzone of the twins angering her parents, getting punished, and taking that frustration out on her with thinly-veiled ‘pranks’ that get closer and closer to hurting her. So she takes to spending more time with Willow (who, miraculously, has remained her friend, and not asked about why they never go to Amity’s house after school.) She meets Willow’s dads, who are both so nice to her that she finds herself trusting them, too. They don’t treat her like her family do – like she’s stupid, even though she has the best grades in her entire class and free pick over any magic track she could ever want.

“I think Willow’s going to take abomination classes,” her dad says when they’re crowded around their lopsided table, having finished eating. It’s been a common conversation topic, with the age for picking out tracks approaching quickly. “We’ve discussed it as a family, and it has the best opportunities.”

“I want to take Beast Keeping,” Amity says. She hasn’t said that out loud before – after her siblings took illusion magic, it was practically set in stone that she’d have to take abomination, just like her father. “But I probably won’t be able too.”

“Why not?” Willow’s father asks. “Beast Keeping is a very respectable magic choice.”

Amity shrugs. “I think I’ll end up in Abomination, too,” she says, turning to Willow and offering a smile. Willow grins back.

Her fathers exchange a look that Amity’s seen many times, now – one she can’t decipher. “Amity…” he says. “What do you want?”

“To go into the Beast Keeping track,” she said.

“But you’re not allowed to?”

She shook her head. “It’s alright,” she says, looking down into her lap where her hands have begun to fidget. “It’s like you said – abomination track has the best opportunities.”

“It’s not always about opportunity,” Willow’s dad says. “We also picked abomination because it’s one of the magics Willow enjoys the most.”

That night, Amity goes home, and thinks about that. Enjoyment as a source reasoning.

The time to pick their tracks comes, and in a flash of defiance, Amity writes her name under ‘Beast Keeping.’ She lets out a sigh as she does so, looking over to Willow, who gives her a large grin from her position in the Abomination line.

Everything’s fine… until it’s not.

That afternoon, Amity enters the house to see her mother, arms crossed. “Amity,” she says, a cold greeting. “I got a call from Principal Bump today.”

“Oh?” Amity asks, trying for innocence, but her voice comes out far too quiet with fear.

“Yes,” Odalia continues. “He told me you put your name under Beast Keeping. I told him that was absurd – because I thought you and I were on the same page about you taking Abomination classes? But apparently not.”

Amity slips off her shoes by the front door, taking as long as she possibly can with the task. She remains quiet.

“So, I had him change you over to Abomination,” her mother continues. “Because your… lapse in judgement shouldn’t have to have lasting effects on your future, right?”

“Okay,” Amity says. She meets her mother’s eyes.

“Okay,” Odalia says. “Next time you get any rebellious urges…”

Her eyes fall to the pile of Alador’s books on the mantle – the same books Amity has seen the twins holding countless times. Amity gulps, nodding.

“Good,” suddenly her mother’s smile is warm, and it’s hard to imagine that same face scolding her moments ago. “Do you have any homework to do?”

* * *

Amity takes Abomination classes. She does well – everybody tells her its because Abomination magic is in her blood.

Willow is not so lucky with the magic. Her parents find out, and the friendship Amity has worked so hard to keep is forbidden with the wave of a hand and a harsh dismissal.

Amity and Willow stop being friends.

* * *

Before long, Amity meets Boscha at one of her parent’s parties. They’ve dressed her up and left her to her own devices, except this isn’t the Blight Manor, so she can’t slip away into her bedroom as she usually does.

Instead, a girl with pink hair, three eyes, and an unfriendly sneer walks up to her. “You’re Amity?” She asks.

“Yeah,” Amity says.

“I’m Boscha.” Boscha is holding a cup of what looks to be the silvery drink in her parent’s crystal glasses, except she’s Amity’s age, so it can’t be. “You want to come and hang out?”

Amity follows Boscha to a group of girls, all her age, drinking the same stuff Boscha has. “It’s called tandrai,” Boscha explains. “Try it.”

“Am I allowed?” Amity asks – and she’s greeted with laughter in her face. It’s been a while since she cut ties with Willow, but it still shocks her how mean everybody else is.

“Who cares?” Boscha asks. “It’s scentless, anyway. Try some.”

Amity takes Boscha’s outstretched glass, and sips a little. It’s sweet, but leaves behind a bitter burn in the back of her throat. Amity splutters.

“Aw,” Boscha laughs, taking the glass back and downing two large gulps of the stuff. “Maybe you’re not quite ready for it yet, Blight.”

Amity forces a smile to her face, even though the bitterness sits like a boulder in her mouth – one that stops her from speaking. She sits there, with Boscha and her friends, for the rest of the night; listens to them talk about their families, and their lives. They’re each a little like her, Amity thinks. A lot more like her than anybody else has ever been.

The next week at school, Boscha singles her out from where she’s eating alone at lunch. “Hey, Amity,” she greets as she plants herself directly across from her.

“Boscha?” Amity asks. “What are you doing?”

“My parents say I should hang out with you,” she says sourly, “so here I am. We both need somebody to talk to, anyway.”

Amity doesn’t get any time to address that, because two others sit down besides her. “Meet Skara and Cat,” Boscha says.

“Hi,” Amity says to the silver-haired girl besides her. Skara gives her a once-over, before turning back to her tray of food.

From that day forwards, they’re friends – as close to ‘friends’ as they can be when they’re really only acquaintances of convenience. They begin finding each other much faster whenever their parents hold parties, and Boscha stops teasing Amity when she doesn’t take the silvery liquid offered.

One day, Amity comes home from school, and Odalia is waiting in the hallway. “Oh, Amity,” she says, an unnatural warmth to her voice that Amity has only heard when she wants something. “How was your day at school?”

“It was good,” Amity says, slipping off her shoes. “Do you need something?”

Her eyes fall to the bottle in her mother’s hands. “I just want to try it out,” Odalia says, noting Amity’s gaze. “It’s green hair dye.”

“Why?” Amity asks. “My hair’s just fine.”

“But you’re spending so much of your time with people that matter, now,” she says, and her smile grows until it places a dagger of dread straight into Amity’s chest. “Wouldn’t it be better if our family were a little more… colour-coordinated?”

* * *

At eleven, Amity’s ventures to the library become a saving grace. The twins – at fourteen – are causing so much trouble that she practically goes unnoticed at home, save for the occasional question about her grades. It’s easy to slip out under the guise of studying.

After a few weeks of daily visits, the librarian – a kind woman who asks Amity to call her, “Dahlia,” even though Amity couldn’t imagine calling her anything but “Mrs Orblood,” – introduces herself, and begins recommending Amity books.

Mrs Orblood is sweet, and spirited – and one too many times, Amity catches herself watching as she reads whatever picture book she’s picked out that week to a small cluster of children that seem to adore her as much as she does them. She doesn’t treat Amity like she’s a child; often recommending Amity books that she’s read herself, so they can have long conversations about the twists and the turns of the plot.

It’s on one of those days, where Amity is sitting besides the desk and finishing a book, when another woman enters and kisses Mrs Orblood on the cheek, peeking over her shoulder and onto the book she’s reading. Amity can’t help but watch with a morbid curiosity, as Mrs Orblood laughs and leans back into the other woman’s touch, speaking in a hushed voice to this stranger. The exchange is short – and all too soon, the stranger has stood back up, and wandered off to peruse the aisles of shelves.

“My wife,” Mrs Orblood says, and Amity feels her face heat after being noticed. “She comes and visits me at work, sometimes.”

“She seems nice,” Amity says. Her eyes drop back to her book – and the exchange ends.

Mrs Orblood doesn’t question Amity when she begins staying longer hours each day – showing up the moment Hexside lets out, and leaving when the sun is down and her stomach is growling angrily at her. “You know,” she says one day, when Amity has been shuffling to find a comfortable position on the public chairs for the better part of two hours, “there’s a room nobody else uses.”

Amity looks up at her. “What do you mean?”

From where she’s situated, Amity’s within perfect view to see the wrinkles along Mrs Orblood’s brow crease in the same way they do when she’s reading the sad section of a book. “You spend a lot of time here, dear,” she begins, “and I thought maybe you’d like a quiet room to study by yourself.”

“I don’t understand,” Amity says.

“Just – come with me.”

Amity follows her through the shelves, until they’re near the back of the library, in the romance section. “Mrs Orblood,” Amity begins, “I don’t like romance books-“

But Mrs Orblood pulls a book out slightly, and a door opens – straight out of a mystery novel. “Oh,” says Amity.

“Come on,” she says, and Amity is following her inside. The room is moderately sized (secret rooms are never _massive,_ after all) and dim, with scarce decorations save for a couple of shelves of books, and a desk.

“This is so cool,” Amity says. “But why are you showing me?”

“It’s yours, if you want it,” Mrs Orblood says. “Nobody uses it anyway.”

“Mine?” Amity asks.

“To hang out in when you need some privacy,” says Mrs Orblood. “I’m sure looking over your shoulder at every tiny noise can be exhausting.”

“I can’t – I’d feel bad,” Amity says. “You can’t just give me a room. I don’t even work here!”

“Alright,” says Mrs Orblood, “then how about you work here?”

“I’m confused,” Amity admits.

Mrs Orblood smiles softly. “I’m getting too old to read to the kids,” she says, “and I think you’d be the perfect replacement. A couple hours a week – and this room is yours.”

“Okay,” Amity says almost without thinking. “I’ll do it.”

Mrs Orblood smiles, and reaches over to pat Amity’s head softly. “You’re a good kid,” she says, and Amity can’t decipher what she means by that before she’s left alone in the room with instructions to, ‘explore.’

Amity meanders for a while, looking at the books that are blanketed in a thin layer of dust. It’s a mix – several copies of books that are already on display, or books that are out of print, and popularity.

She sits at the desk, and breathes. The room is quiet – but it’s not unsettling in the same way it is in her bedroom, where she tenses every time somebody walks up the stairs. It’s… peaceful.

There’s a cranking behind her, and Amity turns to see Mrs Orblood. “Sorry, dear,” she says, “but I forgot I wanted to give you this, too. You finished your last one a few days ago, right?”

“Yeah,” Amity says.

“This one’s a real treat. And it’s a series, too.”

Mrs Orblood places a book on the desk – _Amity’s_ desk – and leaves. Amity traces the cover with her finger.

“The Good Witch Azura…” she mumbles to herself, before opening the first page.

The book is good. The room becomes Amity’s safe haven – and, with Mrs Orblood’s permission, she begins switching out the books for her own, and decorating the walls with posters she can find.

She reads the other three Good Witch Azura books quickly. She enjoys them – that much she says to Mrs Orblood, who smiles and mumbles an, “I knew you would,” in response. What she doesn’t say, however, is that Azura and Hecate act differently together than she’s ever acted with her… friends. The same way Mrs Orblood acts with her wife.

This gives Amity butterflies. She tries not to think about it too much.

* * *

Luz makes an appearance when Amity is fourteen, and promptly ruins Amity’s life. First, she’s demoted from star pupil – which her parents won’t like – and then Amity’s chance at getting into the Emperor’s Coven is blown out by a cheating human and her social outcast of a mentor.

(But then Amity’s told that she cheated, too, and – yes, Lilith isn’t the best of people… but they’re the good guys. How had they cheated?)

Luz shows Amity her light spell, and Amity releases her from the oath, and they part ways. Amity thinks about that moment a lot – in a back alley, with Luz’s earnest expressions. It’s stupid, really, that someone can’t conceal how they’re feeling, and just lets it… show on their face like that.

Amity trains with Lilith twice a week, now, after school. The convention had put a hold on that – but now that they’re back, Lilith is vigorous with what she puts Amity through. Amity fights and trains until her exhaustion is palpable, the overuse of magic makes her head feel like it’s filling with knives, and she’s panting so hard for breath that her lungs ache within her chest.

“Stop,” she says, walking over to where she keeps a bottle of water. “Just… a minute.”

Lilith lets up (that’s one of the things Amity likes about Lilith – she, unlike a couple of people in Amity’s life, knows what boundaries are.) “Sorry,” she says, finally taking note of Amity as she half-collapses to the floor, drawing her knees up to her chest to rest her head on one. “I’m pushing you hard – because…”

“Because we lost, I know,” Amity says, drinking more water. “But we won’t lose again. _I_ don’t lose.”

“You lost before,” Lilith points out.

“You made me cheat,” Amity responds.

“I just-“ Lilith lets out a groan that’s so unlike her, Amity has to blink. Lilith is usually the picture of poise and perfection, but now her hands are tangled up in her pin-straight hair. “Edalyn is so irritating!”

“Why?” Amity pushes. Her breaths are still heavy, but the ache in her limbs is beginning to lessen.

“She cheated!” Lilith says. “And she always cheats – she cheated at school, you know. It’s in her nature. First Grudgby, then at her trek – and now at the Convention.”

Lilith lets out a huffy sort of sound that makes her seem much younger than she’s seemed before, and Amity stands. “I don’t understand,” Amity says. “You’re mad at her because she cheated? But we cheated, too.”

“Because we have to beat her!” Lilith half-yells. “You’d never get into the Emperor’s Coven if it got out that you were beaten in a magic fight by a filthy _human!”_ Lilith’s laugh comes out slightly deranged. “Besides, we had to cheat, because I knew she was going to cheat.”

Amity frowns. “Okay,” she says. Lilith scares her, a little bit. Sometimes.

Lilith sucks in a deep breath, and exhales it upwards. “Sorry, Amity,” she says, brushing her fingers through her hair until it’s exactly the same as it always is. “We’re done for the day. You can go home.”

“Alright,” Amity says, walking to grab her bag. “I’ll see you next week, then?”

Lilith doesn’t respond. Part of Amity didn’t really expect her to. Lilith, as much as they parade their ‘mentor-and-mentee’ dynamic around, believes Amity is inferior to her. Which is fine – it could be worse.

She takes the hover-car home, and walks up to her bedroom, collapsing face-first and letting out a long sigh into her pillow. The words, ‘filthy human,’ play over in her head.

What would her parents say if they knew she’d been speaking with a human? Something about their reputation, she was sure. Perhaps her mother would yell at her in the way that made her voice go hoarse quickly, the way she did when she was really angry. Or, maybe her father would find this argument worthy of his time, and cast a silencing spell on her for a week. That in particular had always been fun.

Amity rolled over, and shut her eyes. It wasn’t worth thinking about if it wasn’t happening. They had no way of knowing that Amity spoke to Luz.

* * *

Luz teams up with Ed and Em – and there’s nothing that can go right about that. They find her diary, and Amity finds herself in a situation in which she can’t conceal the tears that well up in her eyes as she looks upon everything that should be _hers,_ that should be left alone.

At the end of that, Amity and Luz walk out a little closer than before. Positive. They might even be friends, Amity thinks.

But they get home, and when asked where they were, Ed and Em don’t hesitate to throw Amity under the bus. Her mother blinks, long eyelashes casting spider-like shadows onto the wall besides her. “Human?” She asks, and her voice takes on that sickly sweetness that Amity comes to fear.

They’re friends, Amity reminds herself, as she sits through the lecturing that isn’t aggressive more as it is back-handed with comments that cut into her until she’s a bloodied mess. Amity takes it all, desensitised, before going upstairs and wishing for the thousandth time that she had a lock on her bedroom door.

She’s made a friend – and a real one, this time, not just an acquaintance she hangs out with through her parents. Luz might not be warm to her, but it’s a lot closer than Amity’s been with anyone in a while.

* * *

They’re friends… until they’re not.

* * *

It’s when Amity turns sixteen that the dread sets in. Sixteen, in the Boiling Isles, is the age in which the elite families begin looking at possible marriages, forging relations that benefit business more than they do pleasure.

Boscha remembers. Boscha, who snuck her a cake the night before with a single candle in it, and who gives her a sympathetic grimace from across the room as Amity’s introduced in her too-tight dress to a room full of blank-faced ‘suitors.’ Boscha, who’s already been through all this.

Perhaps the two of them are better friends than Amity thought they were.

Amity wasn’t present when the twins went through this – of course, it was only Emira that went through a party hosted at the Blight Manor, because boys didn’t get these sorts of parties. But now they’re both away on their treks, hours away and probably oblivious to the fact that their little sister has come of age, and Amity is all alone.

She hates the twins (no, she doesn’t. She might. She doesn’t know) but she really wished they were here right now. Instead, she’s forced to smile as she holds a cup of whatever drink she’s been handed a little too tightly, laughing at jokes that aren’t funny, and pretending that she likes boys.

Most of her ‘suitors’ turn out to not be particularly interested in her – which gives her the perfect opportunity to slip off halfway through the night, and enter her bedroom. By now, Boscha’s passed her a flask of tandrai that she stuffed into the hem of her tights, which she pulls out, now, pouring carelessly into her glass. It’s gotten easier to stomach the bitterness as time went on, and now Amity can focus on the warmth it creates in her chest.

Her door clicks open, and one of the boys peeks his head in. “Hi,” he says. “Thought I saw you come up here.”

Amity’s head is still clear – so she’s able to plaster on a smile over her irritation. “Is there something you need?” She asks, and if there’s an added bite to her words, it isn’t mentioned.

“I’m Edgar,” the boy says. “Amity, right?”

“Amity,” Amity confirms. The boy nods, and when the silence begins to set in, he comes further into her bedroom, closing the door behind him.

“You had enough of the party?” He asks, coming to sit a little too close on her bed besides her. Amity crosses one leg over the other so she’s facing away from him, slightly, and takes another sip of her drink.

“Yes,” she says. “To be honest, it’s a little overwhelming.”

“You get used to it,” Edgar says. “I’ve been going to them for years.”

“Ah, but you’ve never had one of your own, right?” Amity asks. “Different experiences.”

Edgar shrugs. “Close enough, right?” Humour seeps into his voice, but Amity is in no mood to laugh. “Anyway. What are you drinking?”

Amity looks down at her glass. The silvery liquid is obvious – he’s just fishing for conversation. “Nothing,” she says, setting the glass aside. “Why are you here?”

“You’re very pretty,” Edgar says. He scoots closer to her, and this time Amity doesn’t hide her actions as she moves away. “Girls at these types of parties usually aren’t.”

He comes closer again. Amity doesn’t have much room left to move. “Edgar,” she warns.

“What do you think?” Edgar asks. “Our parents like each other. You think you could see yourself marrying me?”

His breath is in her face. “Stop,” she says, scrunching up her nose to rid it of the scent. “You’re making me uncomfortable.”

“Don’t be uncomfortable,” he says. One of his hands lands on her thigh, and he squeezes slightly, through the dress. “It’s all right.”

Amity reaches for her drink, and splashes its remaining contents all over his face. “Get off me,” she says. “I said I was uncomfortable.”

Edgar freezes – wiping tandrai from his eyes. “Fine,” he says, and the aggression in his voice is sudden enough to make Amity flinch. “You’ll regret this.”

He leaves, and Amity breathes. She could’ve handled that better; her parents will surely think so. Spirits, her parents will probably throw a fit once the night is over.

A knock on her door gives her barely enough time to look up before Odalia is storming into the room, face ablaze. “You poured tandrai all over Edgar Pouillon?” She hisses at Amity. “How dare you be so disrespectful!”

Her mother doesn’t ask for Amity’s explanation, so Amity doesn’t give her one. She zones out – as her mother continues to berate, voice rising in tone. “You’ve embarrassed our entire family!” Odalia continues. “Not to mention that the Pouillon’s were your best option – not that they’ll consider you anymore. And where did you even get tandrai from-?”

It’s the harsh pain to her cheek that focusses her in again, and she raises her eyes to her mother’s. “Are you even listening to me?” Odalia asks. “You’re as bad as the twins. Wait until that calms, and then come down. We’re eating.”

She leaves with the slamming of a door, and Amity’s hand comes up to her cheek, that’s now warm and stinging. She should have seen that coming, too.

Amity pours herself some more tandrai, downing it quickly, before heading down the stairs, handprint proudly displayed across her cheek.

* * *

Three months later, Amity makes a one-way visit to the Owl House. Exhaustion has become a cold constant within her, making her bones ache with lethargy at every step. She’s cold, too – colder than a witch probably should be. But she can’t go to Willow, because Willow’s dads hate her, now, and she can’t go to Boscha, because Boscha’s parents would send her back – and Luz is the only one she has left.

Luz lets her in (because of course she does; Luz is too kind for her own good, and somebody needs to tell her to grow some walls.) Luz talks, and Amity can’t quite forget the cold and the exhaustion but it dulls slightly when she’s with her.

Eda, however, is a walking depiction of Lilith – of everything Amity’s ran from – and it all comes crashing back. It’s in moments like these, where Amity hasn’t been exercising, but air is still short, and it feels like she’ll die, that she needs to be _alone._

She quells it as long as she can – sticking with Luz, watching her as she makes easy conversation with a woman that could end her with the click of her fingers. Her breaths slow, evening out with forced regularity, and she eats until she can’t, until there’s nothing left.

And she’s trusting Luz because she has to, of course – because Amity can’t be alone any longer. She needs somebody to be there, if at least so Amity can get enough sleep to be able to watch out for herself. Her relationship with Luz (whatever it is) is purely out of convenience.

Besides, Luz’s smile makes her forget about the worms in her stomach and the inertia in her head, for a moment – and maybe that’s enough.

* * *

They are in the human world, and it’s colder than Amity had expected it to be. And Luz doesn’t like Amity – not the way Amity likes Luz. Not in the way that Hecate and Azura like each other. And – spirits – Amity had been reading it wrong, and now she’d ruined everything.

Luz was a danger zone, and around her, Amity was a mess. Amity couldn’t control the beating of her heart when she was around Luz – so loud, she worried Luz would be able to hear it, too, desperately pounding against the confines of her ribcage. And – Amity wanted something with Luz that she couldn’t have.

She couldn’t. She _wouldn’t._

She can’t do this anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be clear: the party is not the reason why amity ran away (although it's definitely a contributing factor.) also; y'all had some conflicting opinions on amity's behaviour last chapter - so let's discuss that!!
> 
> 1\. the stealing thing. amity made a joke that didn't land with luz, because she has seen all of 6 movies, and assumes that 'stealing' is cool. she wants to distance herself from her Blight life (rich, pampered, etc) and sees this as a way. she also immediately backs off the idea.
> 
> 2\. i understand my characterisation in the library seen is a bit iffy - but here, amity is not being mean!! (this is my writing's fault - sorry about that.) amity's personality is to make digs that aren't meant to offend - and luz, who knows this, doesn't get offended.
> 
> 3\. they're human beings (hah. not exactly - but my point remains.) people don't get on 100% of the time! Luz had all these amazing plans to impress the girl she likes, and Amity (who doesn't feel 100% comfortable in the human world anyway) voices her opinions because she values communication.
> 
> anyway,,,, here's amity!!!! a little insight into her. thoughts? comments? 
> 
> notes on this chapter, because they're bound to come up:
> 
> \- edgar is at least 3 years older than amity. which is legal in the boiling isles,,, but gross.  
> \- tandrai is alcohol, and according to this, boscha drinks it around aged 11. this is very young - i'm aware!!! but boscha's parents in my characterisation are a whole heap of neglectful, and she does whatever she wants because they aren't there to say no - so this is her pushing the limits as much as she knows how, trying to get their attention.  
> \- despite the alcohol thing, boscha cares about amity. this is her way of doing what she believes helps, because if it helps for her, surely it helps her friends, too?
> 
> anyway... thank you all so much for reading !!!!!! <3


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic now has art!!!!! commissioned by the wonderful @kingofterrors, and done by @cutetanuki-chan, you can find it [here <3](https://kingofterrors.tumblr.com/post/641501252504649729/commissioned-this-super-sketch-from-the-always) (thank you so much!!!!) y'all should go check it out - it's of chapter 12, and it's gorgeous
> 
> i don't know if it's happening, but if anyone decides to make art/extra content for this fic, 1) thank you!! and 2) please tag me somewhere???  
> my tumblr is the same username as my a03 :)))
> 
> anyways,,, this chapter kicked my butt, and i'm highkey not proud of it, but i'm also very tired of looking at it, so i really hope you enjoy. i'll probably be back later to make minor edits

Luz woke, and thoughts of Amity filled her head. Sleep had come, eventually – but before it, she’d been restless, replaying the night’s events over in her head. The shutting of the door. Amity’s face – Amity’s silence – as she’d shut Luz out. Amity had shut the door in her face, for spirits’ sake. Amity had shut the door. The same Amity who was kind underneath it all, who never lashed out (not at Luz, at least), and always kept a head calm enough to sort through problems as they arose.

Not this one, though. Luz had well and truly messed this one up.

She needed to get over Amity – get over whatever stupid feelings she had for her, and start working to try and salvage what was left of their friendship after she’d ruined it the night before.

But… she didn’t want to get rid of those feelings. Because Amity’s lips had looked so good, in that treehouse, on that night… maybe they’d have been soft as they’d touched Luz’s own.

Neither Luz nor Amity talked much on the Sunday – Amity didn’t wake until almost noon, at which point Camilia had recovered enough from her night shift to insist that they spend the short while of the afternoon together, before they returned to the Boiling Isles. Luz wanted to talk to Amity, of course, but Amity wouldn’t even look at her. She thought about that.

Camilia got out a board game. They sat around a table. Amity flinched when Luz extended a hand to her, holding the dice.

At least they had King, she thought – King, who’s endless chatter and confusion about the game kept the silence at bay and Camilia distracted from the problems Luz created. They played to the beat of his voice – Luz forced a laugh every once in a while, so he wouldn’t get suspicious, either.

Amity’s eyes were red-rimmed. Luz thought about that, too.

But the afternoon passed quickly, and soon Luz was swinging on a backpack and following her mother to what they’d affectionately began to call the Owl Shed – where Eda opened the door at the same time every Sunday night, and Luz parted ways with her mom for another week. She had King tucked in one arm, where he was drifting to sleep amidst his nonsensical mumbling.

Amity, who usually walked by her side, was behind her, out of Luz’s view. Perhaps, Luz thought deprecatingly, that was for the better.

Luz thought she’d been hiding it well (the whole I-messed-everything-up-and-it-feels-like-my-life-is-imploding thing), but Eda took one look at her, and another at Amity, two paces too many behind her, and gestured them through the door. “Go ahead,” she said, patting Luz on the back as she passed, and plucking the sleeping King straight out of her arms. “Camilia and I are going to have a little talk.”

And then the door had shut, and Amity and Luz were left alone in the shed besides the Owl House.

Luz cleared her throat. “So, uh… want to head inside?”

They walked out of the shed, and around to the front door. King’s absence left Luz with a weirdly cold patch of her torso, and nothing to do with her hands other than fidget nervously with the hem of her top as she walked to the door.

“Luz!” Hooty called, his long neck extending to greet her. “You were gone forever.”

“It’s been two days, Hooty,” Luz said, and she couldn’t seem to find any pep in the words – not even for him.

“And… Amity,” Hooty said, audibly gulping on air (a gulp that, Luz watches and grimaces as she does, travels all the way down his long neck until it disappears into the door.) “Come in!”

For once, Luz wasn’t glad that Hooty stopped talking – sure, it was funny at first that Amity struck genuine fear in him, but now it left them… silent. Again.

Luz hated the quiet.

“I wonder what my mom’s talking about with Eda?” She asked. “They don’t talk a lot – other than the interactions you’ve seen. Have I told you they’re really competitive with each other? They are. For some reason I don’t understand, and they won’t tell me what it is. But it’s fine.”

She cleared her throat. “But… yeah. They never talk outside of those few minutes each week. Maybe Eda’s got a problem? Nah, she’d never go to my mom about that. Maybe… I don’t know.”

She spared a glance at Amity. “I’ll put our bags upstairs,” she offered, holding out a hand for the backpack Amity was holding gingerly in front of her by the strap, letting it bounce against her knees. Amity spared a moment to look from the bag and to Luz’s hand again, before forfeiting it.

“Okay,” Luz said with a smile, and then she was taking the steps two at a time to get up to their bedroom.

 _Their_ bedroom. They were back to sharing a room, Luz noted. No more avoiding each other.

She put the bags down at the end of the mattress, using her now-free hands to slap against her cheeks. “Pull it together, Noceda!” She whispered to herself. “You can repair this friendship!”

With another few seconds to pull herself together, quelling the guilt until it was a small well in the back of her consciousness, she headed back downstairs.

“Um,” she continued, “is there anything you want to do then? We still have a couple hours before we have to sleep.”

Amity’s arms crossed over her chest as she observed the living room. She didn’t say anything, and the air settled into the crevices of the silence, moulding to it until Luz was suffocating in it.

“I’m sure you’re tired,” Luz went on. “Or – maybe you’re not? It really isn’t my place to assume.”

Amity hummed, noncommittal. “Right,” Luz said. “Hungry? I’m hungry.”

She wasn’t hungry – but she walked to the kitchen anyway. “I… what do we have?” She asked, more to herself than anything, reaching up to open cupboards she already knew the contents of. “Want a sandwich?”

She hadn’t been expecting a reply, but the quiet still cut into her. “You’re right.” She stepped away from the counter, turning back to Amity. “We just ate. I shouldn’t… eat more.”

Their eyes met – Amity’s, from across the room, in the doorway of the living room. Amity looked pale, there (maybe Luz was just so used to seeing the flush of joy across her cheeks, she looked… empty without it.) And for once, Luz couldn’t find words.

“Sorry,” Amity said. Her voice came out croaky, and she coughed gently into the crook of her elbow.

Luz frowned. “What?” She asked. “What for?”

“I shouldn’t have assumed you were-“

The door swung open, and Eda entered the Owl House, King tucked into the crook of her shoulder the same way one would hold a baby. “Right, kids,” she said, shutting the door behind her. “I’m back! Gotta put King to sleep, though – poor sucker’s exhausted.”

She turns, then, taking in Luz and Amity, and the quiet. “What did you and my mom talk about?” Luz jumped to ask, half-glad for the intrusion, even though part of her itched with curiosity over what Amity had been about to say.

“Nothing,” Eda’s resulting laugh was high-pitched, and she waved her free hand nonchalantly at the girls. “Don’t worry about it, kid. That’s business between me and your mother.”

Luz frowned. “Why do you seem flustered?” She asked. “You never get flustered.”

“I’m not!” Eda’s voice was climbing in volume. “I’m – leaving. With King.”

“Okay,” Luz said as Eda brushed past them, disappearing a moment after she passed Amity in the doorway. “Well, then. You were saying?”

Amity shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “I’m – I have homework.”

“Right,” Luz nodded. “Yeah. Me too. We should… do that.”

But Amity was already gone – and Luz was alone in the kitchen. She turned towards the counter and groaned loudly, hands rubbing into her eyes harshly.

Was this how it was going to be from now on? Luz rambling messily with all the words that built up in her head, and Amity passively listening? She’d hate that. They couldn’t continue like that. That wasn’t how a friendship worked.

It might be all that they had left, though. If this – this dynamic, this part of Amity, the barest amount of warmth she had to offer – was all that she could salvage… maybe that was the best she could do.

The night before replayed in her head for the thousandth time that day. Had Amity been scared, as Luz leant in? Had she missed it; too caught up in her own thoughts and feelings to catch the signs pushing her away?

They hadn’t kissed. Luz’s greatest regret, and her biggest relief. She hadn’t taken it that far. But Amity was still distant, and Luz’s chest still ached.

She just… needed to fix this. Whatever ‘this’ was, anyway.

* * *

They’d stayed apart for the rest of the evening – Luz had taken refuge in Eda’s room, much like the nights back when she’d just learnt about Eda’s curse, and made excuses to spend time with her, because she didn’t want to admit that when she couldn’t see Eda, well and alive (and human – well, witch), thoughts of the monster plagued her. Eda didn’t ask, like she never did back when Luz was fourteen, when Luz spread her books across the floor and began working that evening. She just went back to working on her potions, reminding Luz to be quiet every time she began clicking her pen a little too incessantly.

Luz didn’t get any work done – it was one thing forcing herself to stay still, and another focussing on something that wasn’t Amity, and the words had all blurred into one dark splodge on her page she couldn’t hope to decipher. But the sun set, and soon Eda was nudging her shoulder softly, and reminding her it was time to sleep.

Amity was in their room when Luz returned. She’d changed into her pyjamas, Luz noted – and was sitting on her bed, facing the window. Luz had interrupted her meditation, then. Another mistake to add to the list.

“Sorry,” she whispered, picking up her bag and heading to the bathroom.

She changed quickly. Silence outside – then shuffling. Then silence. Luz brushed her teeth as quietly as she could, and washed her face. There was an uncomfortable energy zipping up her arms – a restlessness. She cracked her knuckles, but it didn’t go away.

“Spirits,” Luz whispered under her breath. “Stop it, Luz.”

Shaking her hands out several times, she opened the bathroom door, tiptoeing over to her mattress. Amity had tucked herself under the covers, and was laid on her back, eyes closed. They opened as Luz put her bag down, and Luz winced at the mistake, sliding into bed herself.

And then there was just the sounds of their breaths – deep and disjointed. It was always strange going back to sharing a room after a night without each other’s presence.

“Night, Amity,” Luz ventured, softly. Because she’d always said goodnight before – and maybe this was her way of reaching out.

Amity rolled over, until her back was facing Luz. The silence weighed down.

* * *

She woke up, and she was alone. Thoughts of Amity filled her head. She should have expected to wake alone – Amity was never there when Luz woke up in the mornings.

Luz took her time getting up, stretching her arms upwards and letting the cool air hit the skin of her stomach and send a shiver up her spine. It was cold outside; the window was fogged over. Maybe it had rained overnight.

She brushed a hand through her hair, yawning as she went downstairs. It was quiet – also, not unusual. Maybe things were going back to normal, then; minus the Luz and Amity situation, Eda had no reason to act differently around either of them. Maybe today was one of their quiet days.

Made it harder to predict how Luz was going to impose, though. She couldn’t plan her interruption to be as painless as possible when she couldn’t hear an opening.

She reached the bottom of the stairs, padding over to the living room doorway and peeking her head around. Eda was… alone, on the sofa, knitting needles clicking together in a rhythmic pattern.

“Eda?” Luz asked in place of a greeting. Eda turned, a smile lighting up her face.

“Luz!” Eda said. “Morning, kid. You’re up early.”

“Eda…” Luz wandered over to the kitchen – it was empty. There hadn’t been sound upstairs; nobody was there, either. “Where’s Amity?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol imagine if these idiots had basic communication skills and decided to voice their feelings to each other,,,, never


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> she's late, and she hasn't been proofread - but she's here!!!
> 
> hope y'all enjoy :))
> 
> p.s: for a person with adhd writing a character with adhd, it's surprisingly difficult to find words for it

For as long as Luz had known Eda, Eda had never freaked out. She was the type of person that, outwardly, seemed to have her life together (inwardly was probably a different situation – but Eda’s talent had always been in her suave smiles and charisma, distracting whoever into a false sense of security.)

But if Luz had ever seen an exception, today was the day. Luz had known Eda long enough to observe her ‘tells’; the twitch of her brow, downwards for concern. The dropping of the knitting needles in her hand, uncaring to whether the yarn would knot where she left it. The standing, hurried and discomposed.

Eda spared a moment to look behind Luz, as if this was all some stupid prank, and Amity would pop out of the stairwell with a “surprise!” But seconds passed, and no such noise came.

“I thought she was with you,” Eda said, feigning calm even though she’d already gotten up, and her fingers were probably knotting an anxious dance into each other from where she held them behind her back. “Maybe she slept in?”

Luz shook her head, eyes turning to the stairwell. “She was gone when I woke up – but she’s always gone when I wake up.”

Eda nodded. “I was surprised when she wasn’t down here when I came down, but I figured the kid could use the sleep.” She let out a breath, a hand pulling down her face. “So, she’s not here.”

“No.”

“You think she ran?”

“I don’t know,” Luz said, a pit forming in her throat. “I – I can’t remember if her bag was in my room, or maybe it was gone – or –“

“Luz,” Eda walked over to where she stood, just in front of the kitchen doorway, and wrapped her into a hug. Luz had always liked Eda’s hugs – warm and all-encompassing. It didn’t bring her much comfort right now, though. “Run upstairs and check. Maybe she left a note, or something.”

Eda let her go, and she ran up the stairs. A note was possible; maybe Amity had gone out for something. This was all a misunderstanding; what a relief that would be.

She burst into her shared bedroom, and it was as empty as it was when she’d left it, five minutes prior. Luz’s backpack from their weekend in the human world was still placed at the end of her bed, rifled through but not yet unpacked.

Amity’s was gone.

“Nothing,” Luz called as she went back down, to see Eda frowning. “Her bag’s gone, too.”

“Alright,” Eda nodded. “Then she probably ran away.”

“From us?” Luz asked. The pit in her throat was morphing into a seed – growing, until its vines were wrapping around her windpipe, curling around her tongue – choking her. “But… why?”

She knew why. Spirits, of all the endings Luz had imagined for her desires, this had never been one of them. This was her fault. She’d pushed Amity away, and Amity had left. It was only a question of how Luz had managed to mess it all up so badly. How hadn’t she seen that Amity was taking it much harder than she let on? And whilst Amity was suffering, Luz had… joked, and rambled, and _not_ apologised.

“Not important right now,” Eda dismissed. “You have to stay calm, Luz. What matters right now is that she’s alone, and probably at risk.”

“At risk?” Luz asked.

“Her parents could find her much easier if she’s fending for herself,” Eda said, “and her parents are probably the biggest risk there is. We have to find her first.”

“How do we…” Luz trailed off. Her breaths were short and choppy. Eda was right; she was panicking. Panic wouldn’t help.

“We go where we think she’d go,” Eda said. “If we have something she left behind, I can cast a spell to see where she went – that only works for the past hour, though. If she left anytime before that, it’s useless.”

“I can ask Willow,” Luz said. “Willow and Amity were childhood friends – maybe she’ll know where Amity would have gone. Or Boscha!”

“I’ll go visit Lilith,” Eda said, a grimace slipping into her voice. “See if the Blight’s have found her already. Lilith’s always been a boaster – she’ll know.”

“Alright,” Luz said. “I’ll go to Willow’s, then. Text me if you hear anything.”

For once, Eda doesn’t protest about Luz’s incorrect language (you can’t ‘text’ on a scroll, you _page,_ it’s in the name ‘scroll’) – and when she shut the front door, all that greeted her was the empty silence.

* * *

Luz had been to Willow’s house enough times that she knew the way, but not enough to require more than two hands to count her visits. After the initial summer of Luz’s time in the Boiling Isles, back when she was fourteen, when her mom found out about witches and Luz began returning to the human world every weekend, it became easier to have their hangouts anywhere that wasn’t a house – public places, like theatres and conventions and markets. Luz had gone to Willow’s house, still, as Willow had come to hers, but with Hexside picking up its workload and minimal time to hang out, visits outside of school seemed to drift away into barely-there birthday celebrations, or emergencies.

So, she was sure that the sight of her, panting and in pyjamas, an hour before Hexside started, was probably a bit of a shock.

“Hi,” Luz said to Willow’s dad, who’d answered the door. “Is – is Willow up?”

“Yeah,” he responded. “Are you alright?”

Luz straightened up, gulping all the air she could, and attempting to look at least somewhat presentable. “I’m all good,” she said. “I just… can I speak to her?”

He gave her a sceptical once over, but invited her in.

Luz had always liked Willow’s house, too – the interior that was more for comfort than it was for appearance, with the sofa’s mismatched cushions and worn, tall wooden table. Willow was sat at that table with her other father, eating a bowl of something and listening to him chatting animatedly about… sandworms.

“Who was it?” She interrupted her father’s chatter to ask, turning to the doorway. Willow wasn’t wearing her glasses. Her pyjamas had little carrots on them.

“Hey,” Luz waved with one hand. “Um – I need to talk to you.”

Willow gave Luz a surprisingly quick once over, before she stood, abandoning her bowl of breakfast and walking over to Luz. “Let’s go to my room,” she said, more a command than a suggestion, grabbing Luz’s wrist and pulling her through the Park kitchen.

Luz was still trying to catch her breath, but as they ascended the stairs, her eyes caught on the family photos adorning the walls. There was one for every year of school Willow had been through, apparently, posing by their front door with her parents. Some others stuck out – her as a baby, with only a tuft of deep blue hair.

She’d have cooed if she didn’t feel so sick.

Willow pushed the first door they saw open, tugging Luz in and shutting it behind them. “Okay,” she said, twisting to look Luz in the eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Luz inhaled, but her breath caught at the back of her throat. “Amity,” she croaked. “She’s missing.”

“What?” Willow asked, head tilting. “Alright.”

“No,” Luz began, “she’s – we think she ran away. It’s my fault, of course, because we almost _kissed,_ and-“

“Stop,” Willow commanded, approaching Luz with a hand outstretched. It landed on her shoulder, warm and steadying, and Luz did her best to focus on it. “I’m confused. Can you start from the beginning?”

“I like Amity,” Luz said. “And – I don’t know, I thought she might like me too? But I also didn’t want to pressure her into anything, because she’s relying on me for a place to live, and I didn’t want to… take advantage of her, I guess? But then we went home for the weekend, and I must’ve read the signs wrong or something, because we almost kissed. I tried to kiss her, and made her totally uncomfortable, and then now she’s gone.”

Luz finished with a harsh exhale, lips involuntarily pulling downwards. “We – we have to find her before her parents find her,” she said. “You know her parents.”

Willow nodded. “Alright. You tried to kiss Amity, knowing you’d be taking advantage of her, and she pushed you away?”

“No,” Luz said defensively, before pausing. “Well, kind of. I pulled away – she didn’t push me. I’d never do anything without her consent.”

“But you did _try,”_ Willow said. “And now she’s freaked, and… what, you want to bring her back?”

“I don’t care where she stays,” Luz said, “as long as she’s safe. I just need to know she’s safe. Her family… her mom…”

Willow softened. “Okay. I’ll help you find her.”

“Thank you,” said Luz, pulling Willow into a tight hug. “I don’t know where she’d go. Is there anywhere… when she was younger, did she ever…”

“No,” she said. “When Amity needed to escape… well, she always came here.”

“I thought so,” Luz nodded. “And she hasn’t shown up today?”

“No.” Willow said. Luz frowned.

“I’m just worried,” she admitted, moving to take a seat on Willow’s bed. “To be honest, I feel kind of sick. We have to find her, Willow – It’s my fault she even got herself into this situation.”

“Stop it,” Willow scolded. “You’re not wrong, but we’re wasting time. How about we make a list of places she could have gone?”

* * *

Ten minutes later, and they’d drawn up a few options for places Amity could have gone. Luz had practically bitten a hole into her lower lip, and Willow’s handwriting was messier than its usual scratch.

Her dad came up, knocking twice before he opened the door. “You ready for school, kiddos?”

Luz and Willow both looked up from their position on the floor, the list a sea of white emptiness. He took in what must have been a sorry sight, and nodded.

“I’ll tell them you’re sick,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Somewhere between Luz stepping out so Willow could get dressed and the two of them walking to the woods on the edge of town, Willow had managed to slip a text to Gus, who’d shown up in his uniform and with breakfast sandwiches for the both of them. “My mom’s nice,” he said, when Luz asked him if it was okay to be skipping a day of school. “Plus, I have illusion magic – nobody will ever know the three of us weren’t there.”

The woods were vast, and (suggested by Willow) the perfect place for an angsty teenager to run away to. They walked through them until Luz’s feet were sore, and her voice was hoarse, and the sun was high enough in the sky to beat through the tree branches and onto her pyjama-clad shoulders. Eventually, they’d given up, heading to the school – their second destination.

The school was empty. Luz should have known Amity wouldn’t go to hide from her at a place she knew they’d both be. It was worth a try, though, she tried to remind herself. Every destination they eliminated meant each new one they tried was more likely.

Luz had suggested the library as a last resort (not that they’d had much on the list in the first place; Amity was a withdrawn person.) And surely she wouldn’t go there, anyway, knowing that the last time she was there, she’d had to escape because her parents were on the cusp of tracking her down.

It had begun to rain as they left the school and headed over to the library, and Luz cursed her bad luck. Was this a sign, then, that she shouldn’t check the library? That it was a waste of time? Perhaps this was all a waste of time, and Amity’s parents already had her?

She hadn’t heard anything from Eda; she chose to take that as a good sign.

Willow, Gus and Luz split once they entered the library. Gus headed to the second floor balconies, and Willow moved towards the left side of the ground floor. As far as she knew, Luz was the only one that knew about Amity’s secret hideout place behind the romance section. So she’d headed to the right side of the library alone, prepared to look. She couldn’t betray Amity’s trust again by revealing her hideout.

She turned a corner. Mrs Blight’s hair, at the end of the aisle, wasn’t easy to miss.

Luz froze. Mrs Blight. Mr Blight, too. Speaking to the librarian.

Her breath caught in the back of her throat, and she jumps her way over to the next aisle across, immediately slamming her back up against it. Mrs Blight’s voice carried like a plague across the tops of the aisles, indistinguishable but still unpleasant enough to send a shiver up Luz’s spine.

She needed to hide. She needed to find Amity.

Careful to keep her steps quiet, Luz made her way to the romance section in the back of the library, pulling on a book in the same way she’d seen Amity do too many times to count. The doorway slid open; Luz shuffled inside, desperate to get it to close again.

Amity’s hideout was always a shock in comparison to the bright library; it was dim, and her eyes took a while to adjust. She let herself breathe, forehead touching the wood of the door in relief.

“Luz?” A voice asked from behind her. It was quiet; muted in the same way the room is dim. “What are you doing here?”

“Amity?” Luz asked, turning slowly. Amity was standing over a beanbag she’d obviously just picked herself off of, a thick book in her hands, held half-up as if she were brandishing it like a weapon.

“What are you doing here?” Amity repeated, lowering the book to her side.

“Shush,” Luz said, walking away from the door and towards her. Amity flinched, and Luz abruptly stopped her movements. “Your parents are outside.”

Amity’s eyes widened. “They are? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Luz began. She took another tentative step. “I came in here to hide from them. I didn’t think you were going to be in here.”

“Why not?” Amity shrugs. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Luz’s worry ebbed for a moment, replaced with a guilt that had been bubbling at her throat for the past 24 hours. “Amity,” she said softly, because she didn’t know what else to say – she’s already messed things up enough.

Amity shut her eyes, turning her head away from Luz. Luz wanted to reach out, and touch her. To see if she’s real. To touch her.

“We have to go,” Luz said instead, pulling herself away from Amity before she can act on that and ruin what little they have left. “Is there an exit?”

Amity cast a magic circle, and a hole appeared in the wall. “There is now,” she said. “Where are we gonna go?”

“Home,” Luz said, before pausing. “The Owl House,” she amended.

Amity didn’t respond. Instead, she stepped out of the library, picking up a backpack Luz hadn’t even seen on the way out.

Luz followed. She always would.

* * *

“Amity,” were Eda’s first words as she saw the two of them approaching, running over to give Amity one of those bone-crushing hugs Luz was so used to. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“No,” Amity said, muffled in Eda’s shoulder.

Eda hugged tighter, and Luz watched as any breath Amity had left in her was forced out. She’d texted Gus and Willow about how she’d found Amity, and they’d escaped the Blight parents. Gus was all for it, but Willow had asked how she got Amity to agree to come back, when she’d ran away of her own free will.

Luz didn’t respond to that, because she hadn’t convinced Amity. It was the danger of her parents, versus the uncomfortable relationship with her – and Amity had made her choice.

They’d congregated in the living room, and for a while, things were quiet. King had situated himself in Amity’s lap, apparently content to be quiet if he was at least offering some form of comfort. Luz breathed in time with the walls – deep inhale, hold, quiet, elongated exhale. It gave her something to focus on other than the itching energy in her legs, from where she was seated on her knees.

The quiet wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, either. Eda and Amity both seemed to be… processing.

Another thing they could relate to, that Luz wasn’t a part of. It was a good thing Amity was back.

Eda broke the quiet, leaning over the sofa to pull Amity into their tenth hug of the day. King shuffled, squished between them, but remained in the middle. Amity took it, one arm wrapping tentatively around Eda’s hair.

“Sorry,” Eda said. “I was just so worried, kid.”

Amity’s next breath was audibly shaky. The hand in Eda’s hair tightened.

Luz itched to join the hug. But there was really only space for two on that sofa.

“Why did you leave?” Eda asked, pulling back to look at Amity, whose eyes fall to the quilt she immediately reclaimed when sitting down.

“I thought…” Amity fidgeted with the blanket softly. “I thought I outstayed my welcome.”

Luz shook her head violently. “You could never,” she said, probably louder than she should.

“She’s right,” Eda reached out to ruffle Amity’s already messier than normal hair. “You’re always welcome here. Never think you can outstay us.”

King sunk into Amity’s stomach. “We love you,” he said, and it brings a smile to Amity’s face.

“I… thank you,” she said shakily. And then she began to cry.

* * *

Eda promised they didn’t have to talk about it if Amity didn’t want to, so Luz remained silent as they headed upstairs. She’d been quiet for a while, and the itch to do something – anything – had built up into threaded heat through her back and up her shoulders, a restlessness impossible to push down. She did her best to quell it, though, biting her lip almost painfully to prevent an outburst of words she didn’t want Amity to hear.

They got ready to sleep together, and it reminded Luz a little of the first night Amity had come to the Owl House. Like then, Luz turned to look at Amity – watching, as she brushed her teeth.

And then it was all too much, and a tear slipped down Luz’s cheek.

Amity blinked at her through the mirror, spitting out her toothpaste and turning to Luz. “Woah, Luz,” she started, “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Another tear fell. Luz rubbed at her cheeks furiously, turning away from Amity with an awkward laugh. “Yeah, sorry,” she said, sniffling. “I’m sorry.”

“Luz,” Amity said again, softer. A hand landed between Luz’s shoulder blades tentatively.

“Sorry,” Luz said again. “I’m just… I’m really glad you’re back, is all. Please don’t leave again.”

“You are?” Amity asked. The hand withdrew, and Luz couldn’t help but miss its presence.

“Of course I am,” she said, turning around. “I missed you. I was worried about you. It’s all… ugh. Sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Amity said.

“No – you shouldn’t be,” Luz shook her head. “It’s my fault, anyway.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Luz turned off the tap, turning to head into their bedroom. “You’re probably tired, right? We should get some sleep.”

Luz tucked herself in, head hitting the pillow facing away from the bathroom door. She couldn’t see what Amity was doing anymore. She shouldn’t care, anyway. She should shut her eyes and go to bed; save herself the embarrassment.

Amity padded over to her own bed, slipping underneath the sheets. “Hey,” she whispered, because Luz’s eyes were closed. “Luz.”

Luz opened her eyes, and was greeted with the brilliant amber of Amity’s, across from her. “Yeah?” Luz asked.

“I am sorry,” Amity whispered. “For making you worry. But I won’t leave again. I just thought…”

She trailed off, and the silence was filled with Eda’s shuffling from the floor above them. Luz’s gut twisted.

“Nothing,” Amity said. “Night, Luz.”

“Goodnight, Amity.”

More silence. And then, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay. so this has nothing to do with the story, y'all can skip if it's not your jam :)).
> 
> Basically, I'm really sorry this chapter, and last chapter, have both been late. i've come to the realization that in comparison to when i started, i'm losing a little love for this fic (not saying i'll abandon it, or put it on hiatus, or any of that - i still love it!! it's just that some of that original passion has faded.) this makes it kind of difficult to post regularly, because it's started feeling like a chore to write every chapter as it comes - which it shouldn't feel like, because i love you guys, and i'm passionate about this fic, and where it's headed. anyway. my point is that i'm going on a quest to revitalise my love, and outline the rest of this damn fic - and please bear with me if the updates come slower than usual.
> 
> the support has been amazing - i really don't thank all of you enough for leaving kudos and comments and subscriptions and bookmarks, but they make my day and keep me going, honestly. so thank you!!!!! i can't say how much it means to me.
> 
> anyways - here they are!!! unable to talk about their damn feelings as always. thoughts??


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